Smethport Area and Port Allegany school districts have shared new protocols for testing and COVID-19 exposure for students and staff.

Smethport Area School District has posted a letter from Superintendent Brice Benson to smethportschools.com, dated Jan. 11. The letter outlines the protocols going forward for changes to the district’s health and safety plan, explaining this takes into consideration “factors such as the availability of COVID-19 vaccines for all school-aged children, legal requirements in Pennsylvania for COVID-19 case reporting, a review of our test results from our Test-to-Stay program for asymptomatic students and staff, the prevalence of the milder Omicron variant of COVID-19 and a review of the educational impact of close contact exclusions from school.”

The letter goes on to state that the district will transition the management of COVID-19 to the practices and protocols used with other communicable diseases. Effective immediately, the letter states, students and staff who test positive for COVID-19 must isolate for five days and are encouraged to wear a mask around others for days 6 through 10. Those who have been exposed to someone who tests positive for COVID-19 and are considered a close contact will not be excluded from school as long as they remain asymptomatic.

It also states that parents can elect to keep students home for five days of quarantine if they are notified by the district that the student has been in close contact with someone who has tested positive. If the parent elects to do so, those absences will be excused.

“These new changes to our Health and Safety Plan make our Test-to-Stay program unnecessary,” the letter stated. “As Test-to-Stay eligibility was based on a student being asymptomatic, and our new Health and Safety Plan changes do not call for any negative COVID test for asymptomatic students to remain in school, this program will be discontinued.”

This move comes only two days after Bradford Area School District opted to initiate the Test-to-Stay program with a unanimous vote at its January school board meeting. Smethport implemented the program in early December.

Port Allegany School District, meanwhile, is opting to keep asymptomatic students in school as well, with no testing proposed.

Port Allegany Superintendent Gary Buchsen stated that, effective Jan. 11, asymptomatic students and staff who are determined to be a close contact to someone not in a home setting “will not be excluded from school.”

The letter also stated that those who are showing symptoms or who test positive for COVID-19, as well as those who have been in contact through a home setting, will be excluded from school. Parents are also asked to continue to keep students home who are not feeling well. Students are to be fever-free for 24 hours, without the assistance of medication, before they can return to school.

A letter from Buchsen, dated Dec. 12, 2021, stated that masks would be optional for students, staff and visitors, effective Dec. 13. Masks are still required on buses as the federal mandate regarding transportation remains in effect.