Beginning next Monday, September 27th, Bellevue Independent Schools will partner with Ethos Laboratories (Newport, KY) to offer our new COVID-19 Test to Stay program. This new initiative is intended to ensure a safe return to school while reducing the number of quarantine days needed for students who are exposed to positive in-school cases. This is a completely voluntary program that is supported by the state of Kentucky, so testing is performed at no cost to our families or to the school district. 

Test to Stay may be utilized by BISD families if the following criteria are met:

•  A student is exposed to a positive COVID-19 case at school only (in-home and other third-party exposures do not qualify).
• The student is asymptomatic and remains so for the duration of the Test To Stay program.
• A parent/guardian has given consent for the student to be tested, and has enrolled the child in in the Test to Stay program at www.ethosbacktoschool.com.

Superintendent Robb Smith welcomes this new program as another positive component to our mitigation practices. "The Test to Stay program allows us, in real time, to minimize the negative effects of quarantine and to maintain a priority on in-person instruction."

Students participating in the program will be required to take a rapid COVID-19 test at the beginning of the school day for 5-7 days following the in-school exposure. Parents/guardians who drop their child off in the morning will be asked to remain at school until test results are received. Students may report to the school’s designated testing area beginning at 7:30am, and rapid test results are available within 15-20 minutes.

For complete details on Test to Stay and our other COVID-19 protocols, visit the newly updated COVID-19 Info Hub located on the BISD homepage.