About the Sahuarita Unified School District School COVID-19 Testing Program
The Sahuarita Unified School District is located in Pima County, Arizona just south of Tucson.
Students
Early Childhood Center
Schools Serving
K-8
Middle School
High Schools
Alternative High School
K-12 Online School
In April, Sahuarita Unified School District started weekly individual PCR Testing with the ICATT program.
External Partners
The Department of Health and Human Services Testing and Diagnostics Working Group
The ICATT Program
Arizona and Pima County public health department
eTrueNorth - the testing provider - provided staff on site and access to the lab
Sahuarita Unified Testing Team
Dr. Manny Valenzuela, Superintendent - Executive Leadership and Family Communications
Amber Woods, Director of Community Outreach - Communications Lead
Scott Downs, Assistant Superintendent - Logistics Lead
Jeanine Sarnacki, District Nurse - Implementation Lead, Liaison to local Health Department.
The Test
An Individual PCR test was administered weekly to any interested students and staff.
Making School COVID-19 Testing Work for The Community
Online consent forms were easy to access and complete for all staff and families, and were designed to feed easily into the E-TrueNorth platform to manage the testing roster
A simple web page walked families and students through the COVID-19 Testing Basic Steps
Every school was assigned a testing day so everyone knew which day they would be tested
Results and Lessons Learned
Participation rates were lower than originally anticipated
4% initial student participation rate increasing to 9% over a 3 week period.
10% initial staff participation rate increasing to 13% over a 3 week period.
Collecting consent online was efficient and allowed for the transfer of eligibility files easily. Mobile responsiveness of the online form was key. No families used the provided paper forms, all opted to provide consent through the online form.
Recommendations for Others
Logistics
Assign a point of contact at each school who is knowledgeable of classroom schedules
Distribute testing supplies in advance of testing program launch and organize all supplies.
Collecting specimens: mobile testing cart worked well for elementary schools whereas central location worked well for secondary schools.
Hold a meet & greet with testing contractors and school site prior to testing
Communications and Participation
Allocate two weeks in advance of program launch to educate stakeholders about the program
Develop communication campaign with consistent language and messaging including:
Website, social, and email with educational materials and consent forms
Establish a group of communication ambassadors to help amplify messaging, including local health care organizations, city and town officials, school leaders, parents, and others
Regular follow-up with school community to provide weekly results and reminders of how to sign up for the school COVID-19 testing program
Share a FAQ with communication ambassadors
Partner with organizations to develop a participation incentive program
COVID-19 Test Results
Before you launch, develop a process for notification and tracking of results (positive individuals, quarantined individuals, negative results)