Fresno Unified launches ‘pricey’ COVID-19 testing program. Is there a cheaper way?

As Fresno Unified School District students and teachers begin returning to campuses this week, officials are exploring ways to have randomized COVID-19 testing for hundreds of employees but at cheaper prices.

More than 3,000 of the district’s most vulnerable student populations returned to school Monday and 400 to 500 teachers will be phasing back to campuses within the next two weeks, Superintendent Bob Nelson said during a news conference Monday afternoon. Students are on campuses in small cohorts and are continuing distance learning.

“One of the things that has to happen for folks to go back is we have to have randomized COVID testing for our staff members who are participating back on campus,” Nelson said.

Last week, FUSD board members approved a “flexible” agreement with United Health Centers of the San Joaquin Valley to provide onsite testing for school district staff. Some trustees were concerned the pilot program is too “pricey,” with each test costing $150, and wanted to table the vote until officials looked into cheaper options.

But without the pilot program, the district wouldn’t be able to start sending small cohorts of students back to FUSD’s 106 campuses. So the board approved the program.

FUSD employees who are on campuses will be selected at random twice a month to be tested for COVID-19, Nelson said. The Fresno County Department of Public Health requires at least 10% of employees who are on school sites be tested at random.

“This serves as our first step in what we hope is a much more robust testing protocol for our district as we continue to bring back more of our students and staff,” Nelson said.

Although employees will only be tested twice a month, it’s still a way for FUSD to get a “pulse” on COVID-19 cases within the district, Trustee Valerie Davis said during the news conference.

“Ten percent of our staff is a very small percentage of 10,000 members of our staff but we’ll do what we can with what we have where we can,” Davis said.

Can testing be done at a cheaper price?

Finding a way to comply with the county testing rule has been a challenge, Nelson said. FUSD spoke with several other providers to test employees but all, except for United Health, said they didn’t have the bandwidth to test even 10% of the district’s employees, which is about 1,000 people.

The state has recommended everybody who is on a school site be tested, Nelson said, and although the district also takes those guidelines into consideration it’s not possible now.

“We’re going to continue keeping a keen eye on those recommendations in the hopes that they’re going to be updated to be something more realistic for our district,” Nelson said.

FUSD is looking at cheaper ways to test employees. Nelson and Trustee Veva Islas confirmed the district had a meeting planned with the California Endowment on Monday to talk more about how their COVID-19 testing pilot program works.

UPDATE: Fresno Unified joins new COVID-19 testing pilot designed to return students to campuses

The California Endowment is working with nine school districts in the Valley, Bay Area and Los Angeles to test everyone on campuses, including students, twice a week. Each test costs $5 and the results come back within 15 minutes.

Fresno Unified doesn’t have plans to test students yet but has had conversations with other potential testing providers, spokesperson Amy Idsvoog told the Ed Lab in an email.

“The pilot we’re kicking off next week will only include employees, but we’re working towards building capacity in anticipation of the state wanting all staff and students tested when we return,” Idsvoog said.

McSwain Union Elementary School District in Merced County began the pilot on Jan. 4. Planada Elementary School District and Weaver Union School District will also participate in the pilot.

These school districts are significantly smaller than Fresno Unified — which is the third-largest district in the state with about 73,000 students — but larger school districts are beginning to join the pilot, said Dr. Tony Iton, senior vice president for programs and partnerships at the endowment.

“We happen to think this a great solution and we really want people to know about it and do it,” Iton told the Ed Lab. “Especially in districts with Black and brown kids experiencing equity crisis. In a week or two, we can see how effective it is, in the meantime kids are sitting at home and here we have an opportunity here for the district to open quickly and safely. We have available supplies and can help them do this.”

FUSD also is exploring self-testing kits, Nelson said. The state said it would provide testing for athletes who are in contact sports like football or water polo, he said, and the district is “eagerly” waiting for that.

The Education Lab is a local journalism initiative that highlights education issues critical to the advancement of the San Joaquin Valley. It is funded by donors. Read more from The Bee’s Education Lab here.

This story was originally published February 22, 2021 at 4:43 PM.