While the 2021-2022 school year at D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) still begins on Jan. 3 as originally planned, Jan. 3 and 4 are now designated non-instructional days to allow families and staff to pick up a test and use it before returning to class on Jan. 5.
The DCPS told parents that they can pick up a test at any school location, but they have to wait until Jan. 4 to test their children, since tests given before that date will not be accepted. All families must upload their children’s negative test results to the school district’s website by 4:00 p.m. on Jan. 4.
“Any student that does not have their results uploaded by Jan. 4 will not be allowed to attend school on Jan. 5,” DCPS Chancellor Lewis Ferebee said at a Dec. 29 press briefing.
“It is true that we have asked our principals and teachers to do a lot. Please, families, don’t also ask them to do what could have been done on Tuesday,” Mayor Muriel Bowser said. “We’re providing the tests. We’re asking you to do the swabs, wait 15 minutes and upload the results with the proof [of] the test. That’s it.”
For those who test positive for COVID-19, the DCPS officials ask that they reach out to their schools’ main office so their absence can be reported accordingly, and that they observe all isolation guidelines from the city’s health department that their children’s health care provider.
When asked whether there will be a systemwide school closure if the number of positive tests reach a certain threshold, Bowser said individual schools will make their own decisions whether to shut down or stay open.
