Beginning Nov. 3, Arkport will be among the Steuben County schools implementing "Test to Stay," a new COVID-19 protocol aimed at minimizing lost instructional time due to quarantines.
The protocol was approved and endorsed by Steuben County Public Health earlier this week.
The Test to Stay protocol, or TTS, is a quarantine mitigation strategy that permits asymptomatic students and unvaccinated staff who have been in contact with a positive student or staff member to remain in school if they test negative for the virus each day.
The district will continue to make contact tracing calls to potentially exposed students and staff members. Under TTS, parents/guardians can opt to have their child tested daily in school over a seven-day period as an alternative to quarantine. Students participating in TTS would need to be driven to school and report directly to the nurse’s office for a rapid COVID-19 test each day. Students who test negative may attend their classes and take their regular school bus home. Students who test positive will need to be picked up by a parent/guardian and quarantine at home.
TTS only applies to academic instruction. Exposed students who test negative will not be permitted to attend after school clubs, sports, arts or performance activities during the seven-day test period.
The TTS COVID-19 tests will be provided at no cost to families by Steuben County Public Health. At-home tests will not be accepted.
The district will continue to provide a list of exposed individuals to Steuben County Public Health, regardless of their TTS status.
Parents/guardians may opt their child(ren) in to TTS by filling out and resubmitting the testing release that was sent out earlier this school year. For more information, contact your school building principal or view the districts one-page TTS policy here.