Virtual Town Hall Meeting

No content available.

[26] Mark Triplett: Good evening. Welcome, everyone. Good evening. Welcome. We're going to wait a minute for folks to come on in and then we'll get started. All right, welcome everyone. I see more folks are coming in. We'll get started in about 30 seconds. All right, looks like we're at critical mass, so welcome. Actually, Mr. Dolowitz, before you put that up, why don't we do introductions and then we'll jump into the deck. So good evening everyone. I'm Mark Triplett, superintendent. Thank you for joining us for our town hall regarding updates on COVID. So we're really glad you're here and we're going to be providing information and then taking questions regarding our safety protocols for COVID and recent updates from the state and the county. But before we get started, I want to introduce our amazing team here. So why don't we start with Ms. Ingham-Watters?

[176] SPEAKER_13: Good evening. I'm Catheerine Ingham-Watters. I'm the Executive Director of Human Resources.

[182] Mark Triplett: And Ms. Gutierrez?

[184] SPEAKER_21: Hi, my name is Lucia Gutierrez, Executive Assistant to Dr. Chiplett.

[188] Mark Triplett: All right.

[188] SPEAKER_14: Mr. Dalewich? Good evening, everyone. My name is Ariel Dolowich. I'm the Director of Teaching and Learning in Educational Services.

[197] Mark Triplett: And then we have Ms. Foisy, who is doing our ASL interpretation. Thank you, Ms. Foisy. And Ms. Pierce-Davis.

[207] SPEAKER_25: Hello, good evening. My name is Nicole Pierce-Davis, and I'm the assistant superintendent of educational services.

[214] Mark Triplett: Thank you. Ms.

[214] Marie dela Cruz: Dela Cruz. Good evening, everyone. My name is Marie Dela Cruz. I am the chief business official.

[222] Mark Triplett: All right, and last but certainly not least, we're really excited to have Mr. Singh here. Mr. Singh, do you want to introduce yourself?

[229] SPEAKER_32: Hi, I'm Harvey Singh. I'm the VP for Prentissin.

[234] Mark Triplett: Thank you. Great. And that is the agency we'll talk more about, but that's the agency that is supporting us with our student and staff testing this year. So really appreciative of Mr. Singh and his organization for the support. So why don't we get started? Like I said, this is going to be a town hall meeting regarding COVID-19 safety measures and updates. We did have a meeting earlier about an hour ago in Spanish, the same meeting in Spanish, and so this one will be in English. So what we'll do tonight is after our welcome we're going to give some COVID-19 updates and then majority of the time we want to talk about testing and also about vaccinations because there's new information in both of those areas that we want to share and respond to your questions about. So after that, we'll take questions. We'll do our best to answer all the questions that are coming in, and then we'll close. I do want to ask, so questions we'll take in the Q&A box that you see at the bottom of your screen. If you could hold your questions until the end, that way, it might be that we answer your question during our presentation, and that way, that'll streamline the amount of questions that we can answer at the end. So first, just wanted to do a quick review of some of our protocols around communication and reporting of COVID. And then I'll share out some data. And then we'll talk about, again, the testing vaccinations. So this you've seen before, this is our positive case reporting chart. So anytime that we have a positive case on any of our sites, this is what we follow as a protocol for reporting those cases. And so anytime someone, either a staff member, a parent, or a student reports a positive case, then our team goes into action We communicate, we do contact tracing, we make sure there's proper disinfection, we do all of the steps to report out the case to the county, and in that way we have been able to really make sure that we are doing all we can to keep our students safe and our staff. This you've also seen, and this you can find on our website if you haven't seen it yet. This is the flow chart that we use when we do have a scenario with COVID. So you can see on the top, there's three different possibilities that occur when we encounter a COVID case. And we ask these of the individuals that are involved. So one, Is the child, does the child have symptoms of COVID-19? And if so, are they vaccinated or unvaccinated? And then we follow a different process. Was the child exposed and is not vaccinated? In which case we follow this chain of processes. And then lastly, was the child exposed and is vaccinated? And so these are these have been developed by the county in guidance in coordination with the state. And these do get updated. So this is the most updated one. There's been some changes on here. But I wanted to just reiterate that this is what we follow. And this is what our COVID liaison school nurse follows anytime we have a situation with COVID. Likewise, this is the staff flowchart. It's very similar, but there are some slight differences. But this is the way that we follow the chain of events for adults and staff on our sites. All right. So I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Dalowicz to talk a little bit more. And this, we've also communicated this out and some of you may have experienced receiving one of these letters, but Mr. Dalowicz is going to talk about what we do when there is a case and how we communicate it out in different manners.

[494] SPEAKER_14: Thank you, Dr. Triplett. So as Dr. Triplett mentioned, there are two types of letters, two forms of communication that parents, guardians, and students may receive. The first is a close contact or possible exposure letter. So in this case, after contact tracing has occurred, which takes place within 24 hours, it's communicated to only individuals who were in close contact of a possible exposure. And in this letter, you'll also find that it articulates next steps. This is different than the second type of letter, which is a positive case community letter. This is communicated to the entire school community, including students and staff and parents and guardians when a positive case has occurred. And it is sent within 24 hours of reporting of a confirmed case. So those are the two types of letters that we follow as district protocol. And so you may have received one of them already this year, especially if there was a related case, according to this chart. This chart tracks the number of COVID-19 cases in Newark Unified for both students and staff. It tracks it by week, as you can see in the left column. It's every single week so far this year, and we're committed to reporting these cases weekly for the entire 2021-22 school year. A few things to note from this chart, juxtaposed to other districts nearby, we have relatively low numbers of overall cases, which is good news. You can see Even more so, we've had less staff cases this year than student cases. And what's really especially of interest is the last week, September 27th through October 3rd, for both students and staff, there were zero cases last week. So that's excellent news. And we want to, again, pride ourselves on being transparent. This is updated and reported by 5 p.m. Tuesday of each week.

[628] Mark Triplett: All right. Thank you, Mr. Dalewich. And again, we were really delighted that last week we had zero cases. Of course, we know there will be more cases and there will be some ups and downs, but we feel like we are moving in the right direction. You see a trend overall of a reduction in cases, which is the case in many parts of the state right now. So I did want to go over, this has been a question that has been raised up by some families and staff, is when would there be a whole class quarantine? And so there are two situations where this can occur, and we have had to do this in a couple situations. One is if we are unable to determine close contacts in a given classroom. So if for whatever reason, it's not, we're not able to determine who was a close contact and who was not. And sometimes that's a situation where there is no seating chart. And so we, we can't do a thorough close contact investigation. So then we do have to, in those cases, quarantine the whole classroom. The other situation is if there is transmission from students to students, and it looks like that's transmission that is impacting an entire group entire cohort or class. So, to date we have not had any situations like this but again we know that it is a possibility that there could be some student to student transmission. And if it seems like it is resulting in an outbreak in a given classroom or a given school, then we work with the County Department of Health to make a decision about quarantining an entire class, or in some cases, it would be an entire school. Again, we have not had this situation yet this year, but it is something that the Alameda County Public Health Department has a team that actually investigates. So they look at the data as it comes in from us. And if they see some patterns of possible transmission from student to student, then they will launch a school outbreak team investigation to determine if it's something that is going to require a whole group quarantine. Like I said, what's been really nice thus far is that there have been no student to student transmissions that we are aware of. In other words, people that have been tested positive. It is not something that's been spread in the school. It's something that students are contracting. outside of school and adults also. And so that's been a really, that's been really good news and to us that means that people are following the processes, they're wearing masks, they're distancing when possible, and they are staying home when they're sick. And because of that we've been able to really mitigate the spread of COVID in schools. So now I'm going to turn it over. We're going to start talking a little bit about staff testing and then student testing. So I'm going to turn over to Miss Ingham-Watters, who will share some information about the staff testing that we've been doing now for a number of weeks.

[822] SPEAKER_13: Thank you, Dr. Triplett. Good evening, Newark community. Governor Newsom signed an executive order in mid-August for school workers to provide proof of vaccination for COVID-19 or be required to get tested weekly. Although full compliance of this order is not required until October 15th, Newark Unified has been working hard since the order was passed to collect vaccination proof as well as implement weekly testing for staff. We have collected proof of vaccination from approximately 80% of all staff And we have partnered with Predison to implement weekly testing on all of the school sites. So not only is the testing available to both those who need it due to the executive order, but those who would like to get tested weekly as well. Results from the testing are texted or email in 24 to 48 hours. And now at this phase, we are monitoring those who must be tested weekly to ensure that they are meeting Governor Newsom's order. Overall, this has been smooth and streamlined process for our staff, and we hope to continue to promote safety and health on our sites. So Ms.dela Cruz will talk about student testing.

[922] Marie dela Cruz: Thank you, Ms. Ingham-Watters. Our weekly testing program for students started this week and this testing is not required and it's not mandatory. Any parent who would like their student tested needs to complete a consent form. These consent forms were sent out last week by email and they're also available at each of your school offices. There's also a QR code if you prefer to register online. And that code is also available at each of the school sites. The consent form is good throughout the program. And if you didn't get a chance to sign up yet, you can always sign up at any time. The testing is conducted by the agency that we're working with, Predison, who is located here in Hayward. They will be at each school. once a week, and they will be testing asymptomatic students. Asymptomatic means that the student does not have any symptoms. The testing staff will be there between 7.30 to 3.30, and you can check with your child's school for more details regarding the schedule. And this is no cost to families. The test that's provided is a lower nasal PCR swab test, or there's also the oral PCR tests for the younger students. Younger students is anywhere from preschool to second or third grade. The tests could be self-administered by the student, or the testing staff will assist them with the test. The test results are provided within 24 hours, but it may take up to 72 hours. The results are sent via text or email, depending on the information that's provided on the consent form. The district nurse will also receive the results as our COVID liaison. And if your child tests positive, we ask that you please isolate them for 10 days and not attend school and contact the school immediately. And with regards to the testing process, your child is being escorted to the testing area by a school staff, so parents do not need to be there.

[1097] Mark Triplett: I believe Miss Gutierrez is going to explain a little bit about options for students who are symptomatic. So these are students who are feeling sick, are at home, should not come to school, so wouldn't be tested at school. But we do have, in partnership with different organizations in Newark, there are options for free testing for those students and families who are symptomatic and feeling sick.

[1127] SPEAKER_21: Ms. Gutierrez. At this point, we're trying to make it as easy as possible for our families to be able to find locations where they can get vaccinated. Right here, we have put information regarding some of the organizations that are very specific to Newark. We have partnered multiple times with Bay Area Community Health, and they do provide both testing and vaccination at various locations. And there are various locations within all the Bay Area, Fremont, Union City as well. The ones that I put that are placed here are very specific to Newark. These sites and this information is also available on the county and state website as well. We're going to make sure we make it available on our website to provide additional resources for all information and resources for all our families. And in regards to vaccination, we did have a vaccination clinic this past Friday at the high school football game. And we had, we partnered with Washington hospital and they were there and they were able, they distributed booster shots and first and second doses. And there was a total of 26 people that were vaccinated. We're also currently working with Kaiser and we're working on setting up our flu vaccine, which will be coming soon.

[1211] Mark Triplett: Thank you, Ms. Gutierrez. And we do want to encourage everyone to get both vaccinated for COVID, but also when their age group is appropriate, and to get the flu shot because that is, we know that flu season is coming up and across the country, they are talking about the risk of flu and COVID together being something that we really want to be conscious of. And so the flu shot can really support to mitigate that. At this point, I wanted to talk about the new information coming from the governor and state about vaccinations and the vaccination mandate. So as you may be aware, the COVID-19 vaccine has been added, or will be added, excuse me, to California's list of required vaccines for in-person school following FDA approval. So currently, the vaccine is approved, emergency approval for ages 12 and up, but it's FDA approved, full approval for I believe ages 16 and up at this point. And so recently the governor came out with information about what we can expect moving forward once the FDA does do a full approval of the vaccine for ages 12 and older. So a little bit of information about this. Once the FDA or Food and Drug Administration does a full vaccine approval for ages 12 and older, then California has said that it's going to mandate vaccinations for any student who is going to be in person. So that means grades seven through 12, starting with the school term, following the FDA's full vaccine approval for children 12 and older, it will be required for those students in those grades and at those age groups to be vaccinated in order to be in person. Students in grades K through six, it'll be a phased-in approach after the vaccine has been approved for those age groups. And at this current point, as I'm sure you know, there's not even emergency approval yet for the vaccine for students under 12 years old. So students 12 and older, they will be required to be vaccinated as soon as the FDA does full approval. And we don't know when that will happen, but it's possible that that could happen as early as January of 2022. So if the federal government and FDA approve the COVID vaccine, COVID-19 vaccine for a particular age group before the end of this year, before January, then it could be required for us that all students entering the second semester of this year in grades 7 through 12 would have to be vaccinated. Likewise, just as an example, if the federal government, FDA, does the full approval of the vaccine for grades 7 through 12 in May or June, then the vaccine would be mandated, required for students in those grades entering the upcoming school year, so August or in August. So it's a little bit complicated. More information will be coming out. We will have more information on our website as well. But essentially, the state and the governor are really trying to give everyone a runway to get their child vaccinated if they're in the right age group, so that students are vaccinated, that they can safely be in school, and that they do not miss any in-person learning. So I wanted to speak a little bit about how to get vaccinated. At this point, it is remarkably easy and free to get vaccinations. So Alameda County, this is from Alameda County's Public Health Department's website. It has information in all different languages. It offers up the ability to make appointments for vaccinations. If someone is unable to leave their home for some reason, there's even options for them coming to your home to support with vaccination. And again, there's no cost. So really encourage people to take a look at this. We are also offering, as Ms. Gutierrez said, different vaccination options at our schools, but at any time you can go to Alameda County Public Health Department and see some of the free options there. Likewise, the state is offering free opportunities for vaccination. So you can go to the California State My Turn, California Department of Public Health website. You can click on any different language there and get information about how to make an appointment, where to go for the vaccination, who is currently eligible, and even information about the new booster. So lots of opportunities. We really want to encourage everybody who's eligible to get vaccinated because we know it is the number one way that we are going to mitigate and stave off this virus moving forward. So I did want to turn it over to Miss Pierce-Davis, who explained a little bit about our virtual option that we've been running throughout this year and will continue.

[1559] SPEAKER_25: Of course, we continue to have a small number of students who are for health reasons opting to use our Crossroads Independent TK-12 program. You can see the numbers of enrollment that we currently have listed on the left there. The program continues to remain flexible as quite obviously, and I'm sure our community understands, we have to adjust to meet the needs and the very flexible needs and shifting needs of our community. So we try to maintain as much stability as possible, but we anticipate the need to continue to shift as the year goes on and more information becomes available. But so far, we're off to a great start.

[1600] Mark Triplett: All right, thank you, Miss Pierce-Davis. So that is the information we're going to share. And now we'd love to hear your questions and do our best to answer all the questions that you have. Mr. Dollowich, if you could take down the deck. There you go. Thank you. So what we'll do is, Miss Gutierrez, if you could read the question, and then we'll determine who's the most well positioned to respond.

[1629] SPEAKER_21: Perfect, thank you. I'll start off with the first question. Have schools been provided with additional tables and umbrellas for outdoor distancing, lunch and distancing?

[1641] SPEAKER_25: If you don't mind, Ms. Gutierrez, we might want to combine actually the first two, which also talks about access to technology and some of the loss that we experienced last year due to distance learning and how we're going to replace some of those lost Chromebooks. So I just thought maybe those answers could go together.

[1659] SPEAKER_21: Most definitely. The question is, I know many Chromebooks were damaged during the distance learning and now our teachers are working with less Chromebooks than they were before. There is a need.

[1674] Mark Triplett: All right, so both tables and umbrellas for outdoor distancing, as well as Chromebooks for schools. So we actually have a team that has been engaging community around some of the funds, which are called ESSER funds, coming from the government that we have been planning to utilize for some of these things. And so I'd like to turn it over to Mr. Dolowitz to speak a little bit about that. And then also Ms. Dela Cruz, if you want to jump in and speak about some of these things that have been brought up.

[1709] SPEAKER_14: Thank you. So, um, the answer funds stand for emergency emergency elementary secondary school relief funds, and this is the third federal stimulus package that the state has received. And for our purposes we've engaged. in a number of instances with our special education community, for example, a summit for the entire district at Music Elementary on September 9th. And then also with each of the 10 respective school sites at their school site council meetings with principals or at coffee with principal meetings. And so we're doing our best to cast a wide net. We're looking at three bucket areas as we met with the California Department of Education in Sacramento, to review appropriate allowable uses, and those allowable uses fall in three categories. Facilities to address safety, mental health, and social-emotional learning, and academic learning, either unfinished learning from last year with distance learning or opportunities to accelerate learning, such as after-school programs, or extended summer learning plans. And so when you hear things about, for instance, permanent shade structures, outdoor seating, which is encouraged with the use of ESSER funds, that would fall under the first bucket with facilities to address safety. And then when we talk about instructional programs, for instance, that would fall under academic learning. And so I'll actually be leading a presentation tomorrow evening at our board at our board meeting and then we're looking to receive final approval from our board on October 21st. So there's a little background around the ESSER III funds and all of our districts in the county and also in the state are in a similar position in terms of receiving local community input and then formulating a plan to take for board approval.

[1835] Marie dela Cruz: So just to add to that, and the reason why it's relevant to these two questions is that the plan is to use some of these funds for these purposes. One is for educational technology, and the other is for more outdoor tables, as well as outdoor shade structures. In terms of have schools been provided specifically with more tables, the the tables are on order. Unfortunately, I think, you know, with other school districts also meeting these tables, there's been a backlog on inventory and we're being told that it's taking about 12 to 16 weeks to receive our orders.

[1889] SPEAKER_21: Okay, thank you. We have a question regarding the COVID dashboard. And the question is, I received a letter on Monday from a high school stating two cases with two cases on campus on the September 27 and October 1. So how is it that the dashboard can reflect zero?

[1914] Mark Triplett: Sorry, I was muted. Yeah, thank you for that question. It's a little confusing. So the way that we record the cases is when they were reported and when there is a positive COVID test. So in this situation, I can't remember the specifics, but if the two cases, if the students were last on campus on the 27th or on the 1st, it does not mean that that's when they tested positive. So we go by the date that they tested positive and reported that test. So in those situations, the testing positive and the report happened this week, the following week.

[1955] SPEAKER_21: OK, thank you. The next question is regarding the cost of the testing and coverage for insurance. So the question is, There is no way that the service can be covered as part of HMO. The school communication says that it's at no cost, but when you sign the form, it states that the parents are responsible for the cost. Can you please explain this disconnect?

[1985] Mark Triplett: Yes, so I think Ms. Delacruz and then Mr. Singh, it'd be great if you could take this one. Do you wanna, should she repeat the question? I think you're muted, Mr. Singh.

[2000] SPEAKER_32: Can you hear me now? Sorry. Yep, we can hear you. Oh, sorry. Sorry about that. Yeah. So if you want me to take Maria, I can answer this. I think maybe the form was initiated a little before the public health emergency was declared in May, it was renewed. and so right now the agreement that we have with the Newark Unified School District is that we are not going to be billing any share of costs to any of the individuals that are tested and again for the uninsured they are going to be billed to the CARES Act. and there's no deductible or any of the other things. Currently, we do also provide testing throughout the state, so our predecessor policy is not to collect any share of cost or any denial of payment from insurance. We are going to collect through the CARES Act. The other thing to note is that

[2059] Marie dela Cruz: The cost of this test doesn't count against any of your benefit limits. And like Mr. Singh said, there is no copay. So there's no cost to the families.

[2075] SPEAKER_32: And to add on that, sorry about the HMO part. I think we missed that. That was in there. Currently, we bill all insurance. Kaiser is considered an HMO and all insurances are paid for the test.

[2090] Mark Triplett: All right, so no cost to regardless of insurance or not insurance, HMO or otherwise, no cost to the parent.

[2100] SPEAKER_21: Thank you. This is in regards to students being quarantined. When students are quarantined at home, they are not provided with support on learning material. They are expected to do this independently. When a parent chooses independent, sorry, when a parent chooses in-person learning, Oh, the parent chose in-person learning to not have the child learn the content by themselves. Subjects such as math are very difficult to learn on their own. So what kind of support can the students receive?

[2137] Mark Triplett: Yeah, thank you for that. I know that it's really challenging when there is the necessity to quarantine, and therefore the student is being given work in short-term independent study format, and they have to do it at home without the support of their teacher. So that can be really hard, and just want to recognize that. The, the, what we, what I would say is really want to encourage families and students when when appropriate and when it's appropriate age to reach out to their teachers and teachers have been amazing in helping and supporting in any way they can, whether it's via phone or. online as best they can while they're also, of course, continuing to teach their classes. So it is really difficult. We really recognize that and the school will do whatever it can to try to support that time in quarantine with as much support as possible. Ms. Pierce or Mr. Dulowicz, do you want to add anything to that?

[2216] SPEAKER_14: Yeah, I would only add, you know, we have staff with with students in the in a similar situation, and unfortunately, you know with students returning after quarantine. There is no, there is no option to provide additional supports as they would with independent studies. through Crossroads. Teachers do make every effort to provide appropriate curriculum and work that aligns with what the student is missing. And so they have a flexible lens in terms of when the student receives additional support upon return. But it is a challenging circumstance that districts across the state are experiencing.

[2260] SPEAKER_21: Thank you. Our next question is regarding religious medical exceptions. What options do parents and their students have regarding medical and or religious exemptions?

[2271] Mark Triplett: All right, thank you. And I think this is sounds like this is in reference to the vaccine mandate. So currently our understanding from from the state is that there is religious, medical and personal exemptions for the vaccine mandate. We don't have a lot of additional information. We're waiting for information to come from the state and the county on that. But that is something that is currently currently has been named is that once there is a vaccine mandate that there will be medical, religious, and personal exemptions. So as soon as we know more information details about that we will of course share it with you.

[2314] SPEAKER_21: And this is regarding I would say field trips or overnight camps. I heard that decisions will not be made concerning in-person overnight camps until January. However, we need to plan right now for these camps or else funds will be lost. Should we plan not to have in-person overnight camps until 22-23 for the school year? And is it possible for these decisions to be made within the next month?

[2343] Mark Triplett: Yeah, this is something that's really a challenge and really hard because obviously we cannot predict what's going to happen with the virus. So we don't know if it's going to be safe in the spring to go on overnight trips. Right now, given where we are in the virus, in the pandemic, we know that currently we can't allow any overnight trips because we would put it would create situations where young people were in close proximity to each other for extended period of time without masks on in enclosed areas and so for that reason we can't currently allow any trips but we what we want to do is revisit that in January to determine if conditions have changed, then we really want as soon as possible to have students going on overnight trips. So unfortunately, we can't predict what's going to happen with the virus. And so that's why for now we have to follow, you know, we got to make sure we keep our both our staff and our students safe by not allowing overnight trips, but I hope That in the spring, they will be allowed. Now my understanding is that some of the organizations that offer these overnight trips are saying that we have to either commit now or. or not commit at all. And that if we commit now and things turn out to be bad with the virus, and it's no longer safe in the spring, that we lose the funds. So that's a really hard position that we're being put in. And so we're really leaving that up to the schools to make those decisions on whether it's worth the risk of working with organizations that are making those kind of stipulations. But what we can say is in January, we will revisit based on what we're getting from the county and the state, whether it's safe to do overnight trips with our young people. I will say just one last thing, and that is, I think what we really should be doing is also looking at are there other organizations that do those kind of overnight trips that aren't requiring a non-refundable deposit or payment right now. So I'm pretty sure that those organizations do exist, and so although it's going to take a little bit more legwork to engage with them rather than organizations we've engaged with in the past. We just need to make sure that we're making decisions that keep kids and staff safe.

[2504] SPEAKER_21: All right, thank you. This next question might partially be for Mr. Singh. If kids are asymptomatic, what's the point of testing? What is the percentage of false positives and are the swabs sterilized in ethylene oxide?

[2522] Mark Triplett: All right, Mr. Sin, why don't I answer the first part and then you can answer the second too. So the reason for asymptomatic testing, it's something that is being done across the country and it's really recommended as a good practice by the health department at the state and the county. And that is that we, in addition to masking, and vaccinations and distancing where possible and good hand hygiene that regular testing allows us to identify if there is someone who has COVID that is currently in the school. and therefore take proactive steps rather than waiting until the situation has possibly caused greater transmission across students. So that's why we're going with this asymptomatic practice. Again, it is not required. Families can need to opt in. So they need to say, yes, I do want my child to be tested weekly. And any family who doesn't want that to happen, it's absolutely no problem. But families who want that option because they want the comfort of knowing weekly, then we have that available to them. Mr. Sin, do you want to speak on the percentage of false positives and then are the swabs sterilized in ethylene oxide?

[2615] SPEAKER_32: Okay, so obviously we're doing the PCR tests and these are the gold standard. So these are real minimal. I don't have numbers exactly on me right now. So they'll prepare for that. But PCR tests are 98% of the accuracy as to the antigen testing, which is at 66%. So that's pretty high. And as for the swabs, we get these questions quite a bit. They are sterilized by a gas, and these are not COVID These swabs are used for all different types of tests. So it's just for sterilization that they have just been used. There's a gas they've used on them for sterilization, but I'm not familiar with the exact. I can also provide that to the district if they would like to know that. But there are no other chemicals that are added to the swabs. It's only for sterilization.

[2674] SPEAKER_21: Thank you. This next question is regarding the consent form. Why does the consent form for testing give consent until their 18th birthday? Why is this not a yearly consent form?

[2688] Mark Triplett: I can answer that real quick. So the consent form, the families have the option of revoking consent at any time. So it's open consent, but then if for whatever reason, let's say the following week, the family decides, you know what, I don't really want my child to be tested every week. It's absolutely no problem. Simply revoke the consent. And then that child is no longer tested on the regular weekly schedule. Likewise, if a family is like, I'm not sure if I want to do the testing right now, that's no problem. They can sign up at any time. So if you'd sign up next week, then the following week we would start, the child would begin to be tested on the weekly basis. And again, can pull the consent at any time if for whatever reason. Ms.dela Cruz, did I miss anything there or is that?

[2741] Marie dela Cruz: No, that's pretty complete, Dr. Triplett. Nothing else to add.

[2746] Mark Triplett: All right. Well, I actually see we're two minutes over our time. I apologize, but we are also finished with all the questions. So I'm really delighted that we were able to answer all the questions and really want to thank everyone for coming this evening, for asking questions, really wanting to get clarity. I also want to appreciate Predison, Mr. Singh, been an amazing partner. I have to say I've heard from other districts where the partnerships of different organizations is not nearly as wonderful as ours has been. So really appreciate you all's professionalism and thoroughness. And then also want to give a huge appreciation to the team here. All of this work and keeping kids safe requires a large amount of people. this team and all of the staff at our schools and our district office. So thank you so much team for all you're doing to keep our kids safe and learning and every day in school. So without further ado, I'd say good night and we look forward to seeing you soon. Take care everybody.

No minutes available.