ATLANTA — As coronavirus cases surge, Atlanta Public Schools will soon require staff to start getting tested for the virus twice a week. The new policy takes effect the week of Sept. 6.
11Alive spoke with a couple of teachers, who wished to remain anonymous, about the requirement. A history teacher from North Atlanta High School said he did not mind mandated testing twice a week.
“The testing is an imposition," the teacher said. "I think it would be a greater imposition if we end up having to shut down and go back to virtual.”
The teacher said the general consensus among staff at his school was that another COVID surge was on the way. Masks are already mandatory for APS students and staff. The teacher said most students wear them, but admitted it was impossible to monitor them all day.
"If I see kids in the hallway, I’ll tell them to mask up," the teacher said. "But I don’t have time to walk around and make sure every kid in the hallway is masking all the time, nor is that actually my job. In terms of a stress and mental health perspective, the workload has been insane.”
He said while he did not feel the new testing policy was enough to hold off potential outbreaks and surges of the virus, testing overall was not time consuming and it gave him some peace of mind.
At North Atlanta High School, more than 80% of staff are vaccinated and under half of students have been vaccinated.
According to district data, last week, more than 330 students and 56 staff members tested positive for the virus. Atlanta Public Schools has around 50,000 students.
With its new surveillance testing policy, staff will be required to get a test done twice a week at an approved site, with three days in between tests. APS said this would make recording data more consistent.
The school district cited the rapidly spreading Delta variant and 189 staff members testing positive for COVID-19 since mid-July. Around half of the 189 staff members who tested positive in APS were vaccinated, according to Superintendent Dr. Lisa Herring. The district also pointed to the more than 20,000 students who are ineligible for the vaccine, as they are under the age of 12.
One teacher at JW Dobbs Elementary School said the school district's new policy might help limit the spread of the virus, but said she wished the district would be more transparent.
"You’re testing the teachers twice a week, but what are you going to do with the information?" she said. “We have had two whole classrooms, several whole classrooms be quarantined – teacher, kids and all. It’s kind of scary because we really don’t know the actual numbers. They could at least be more transparent with the positive cases that they get.”
As an incentive, the APS said the district would pay staff who consistently followed the testing policy, exempting them from having to use sick leave if they catch COVID or have to isolate due to exposure.
Violating the new testing policy could result in multi-step counseling, a letter from administration, or a referral to the superintendent for further disciplinary action.