Pentucket Regional School District Distributes COVID-19 Rapid Tests to Staff
Pentucket Superintendent Justin Bartholomew hands a COVID-19 rapid antigen test kit to a staff member during distribution at Bagnall Elementary School on Sunday. (Photo Courtesy Pentucket Regional School District)
WEST NEWBURY – Superintendent Justin Bartholomew reports that more than 200 COVID-19 rapid antigen tests were passed out Pentucket Regional School District employees on Sunday, allowing staff to self-test before returning to work.
Tests were made available for any staff member who wanted one. Staff members were not required to take a COVID-19 test before classes resumed on Monday, Jan. 3.
District employees and volunteers coordinated check-in and distribution for two hours on Sunday morning at Bagnall Elementary School in Groveland.
“Our staff and students are our first priority. We want them to feel as safe as possible when classes are in session, and the tests are one more level of protection,” said School Committee Chair Dena Trotta, who volunteered at the distribution.
Test kits were provided to all Massachusetts public school districts by Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency and Massachusetts National Guard.
“I’m certainly grateful to the Baker Administration and the state,” Superintendent Bartholomew said. “With the Omicron variant, it has become difficult to find a rapid test on the shelves. What we heard from our staff is a lot of ‘thank yous’.”
Krista Niles, a first-grade teacher at Page Elementary School, checks in a staff member at a COVID-19 rapid antigen test kit distribution at Bagnall Elementary School on Sunday. (Photo Courtesy Pentucket Regional School District)