FALL RIVER Five Fall River area school districts say they’re not interested, at least for the time being, in a new state pooled testing program that will bundle, or pool, weekly nose swabs of students and teachers being tested for COVID-19.
The voluntary program will provide weekly batch testing to groups of asymptomatic students and teachers as a means of encouraging more parents and guardians to send their kids back to the schoolhouse as opposed to remote learning.
Students who have been learning exclusively from home on a remote basis are also eligible to participate.
Gov. Charlie Baker announced the pooled testing strategy on Jan. 8. He described it as a collaborative effort between the state’s Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Department of Public Health.
FALL RIVER If there’s one word that could sum up the past year in Fall River area schools, it’s unprecedented.
Last March, schools in districts throughout Greater Fall River went remote in accordance with Gov. Charlie Baker’s shutdown orders related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Students and teachers tackled new challenges as remote learning came into play for the remainder of the school year. Proms were canceled, graduations were postponed until mid summer and the community came together to celebrate graduates by posting signs on their lawns and donating to collections for special presents for the graduates of the Class of 2020.