SYRACUSE—A Davis School District pilot program to test students for COVID-19 at Syracuse High that would have allowed the school to stay open instead of going into soft closure did not meet the 80 percent participation threshold required. 

The school had previously been on soft closure from Nov. 7 through Nov. 18 and students returned Nov. 19. On Dec. 4, Syracuse High reached more than 15 confirmed cases again. According to the district, the standard procedure would have been to put the school on soft closure and move to remote learning starting Dec. 7. However, the district in conjunction with the Utah Department of Health and the Davis County Health Department piloted a “Test to Stay Open.” 

In order to stay open, at least 80 percent of the study body had to participate in the voluntary program and receive a free, rapid COVID test on Dec. 7. After testing ended, only 68 percent of students were tested.

“Eighty percent of the parents had given permission for their student to participate,” said Chris Williams, Director of Communication & Operations for the Davis School District. “So we felt confident at 7:30 a.m. but by 10 a.m. participation was waning. We had them come down alphabetically. It didn’t take too long at all, just a quick painless nasal swab.”

Some students may have been afraid because they didn’t know what it would be like, he said. “A pilot is a pilot. It’s not intended to be perfect. I’m sure we learned a couple of things. It might help to educate parents and students about what’s going to happen and that trained professionals administer that (test).”

The district set the 80 percent threshold, said Williams. “From our perspective though, educationally there’s not a teacher in the district that would feel comfortable with only 80 percent in their class. It’s the 20 percent who are not there. They worry about those.”

Williams said the district believes the best place to learn is in the class either in person or online. “Back when I was in high school I was out for about two weeks. I did everything I could to get caught up in my geometry class but the teacher went on. There’s not much she could do. It was a challenging experience. We never want a student to be left on their own. They need to be interacting with the teacher either in person or online.”

Because the pilot didn’t meet the threshold, Syracuse High went into soft closure Dec. 8 and students will return Jan. 4 after winter break. Davis and Farmington High School moved to soft closure Dec. 15 and five other schools are currently in soft closure. 

“It’s not a school issue, it’s community spread,” he said. “As that happens the numbers are reflected in our schools. However, the beauty of putting a school in quarantine is we hope those behaviors will change and the community has a chance to get healthy.”