Students at publicly-funded schools across Chatham-Kent will be getting a little something extra in their backpacks later this week.
John Howitt, Director of Education with the Lambton-Kent District School Board says all students will be given a package of rapid antigen COVID tests.
“It’s our intent to send those home with kindergarten to grade 12 in-person learners Thursday, and those are voluntary kits for the students to use,” Howitt says. “There are five rapid antigen tests in the kits.”
Director of the St Clair Catholic School Board, Scott Johnson, says their board is following the same timetable with kits being sent home with students on Thursday.
“The kits of five along with information (and) resources for them on how to use the kits and clarifying that it is voluntary and it is specifically for student use during the Christmas break, it’s not intended to be used for other family members,” Johnson explains.
The Ministry of Education announced in November it would be supplying rapid testing kits to schools across Ontario to help ensure a safe return to the classroom in January.
Any student who chooses not to use the rapid antigen tests will be allowed to return to school after the winter break.
