The Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE), in collaboration with the Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH), is pleased to announce that we are now offering participation in a one-time COVID-19 testing program at your child’s school. Rhode Island continues to pursue aggressive testing for COVID-19 as a foundation of addressing the pandemic in the state. As part of the state testing approach, we are now testing in schools.
Your student’s school will offer polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests on Tuesday April 27, 2021. All students, staff, and teachers at schools are being offered testing as part of this one-time testing program free of charge. For the test, your student will receive one nasal swab. This swab will be sent to a lab for PCR-based testing. The results of this test will be available in 24-48 hours on portal.ri.gov. The school administrator at your student’s school will have access to the results of the PCR test. If you have any questions on the program you may reach out to your student’s school.
In order for your student to participate in this one-time testing program, your permission is needed. This permission is separate from the permission you may have already provided for your student to participate in their school’s regular BinaxNOW testing program. Please see the linked permission slip at https://5il.co/r9zl. A print version will also be sent home with students.
In closing, we would like to thank you for your support of this new program and our efforts to expand our prevention, detection, and testing of COVID-19 in our state and within our schools. If you have questions, please email EDOC@ride.ri.gov.