Staff COVID-19 Testing Program 

At the Dec. 20, 2021, special meeting, the Ferguson-Florissant School District Board of Education approved the District’s COVID-19 mitigation plan, which will continue the requirement for universal masking to remain in all FFSD buildings and on buses, test to stay program for unvaccinated students, and randomized/pool testing for vaccinated staff.  

Earlier this month, we announced a staff COVID-19 testing program that would start in the new year. We heard from many of you about your concerns regarding the testing program. We took a pause to address those concerns that were raised especially around the inconvenience that weekly staff testing would bring to entire buildings. In a compromise to help keep the safest environment for staff and students, the District will shift to implementing randomized/pool weekly COVID-19 testing for vaccinated staff. 

Key points to know:

• Ten percent of fully vaccinated employees in each building will be randomly selected and required to participate in surveillance testing each week starting Jan. 18, 2022. Utilizing a random selection of ten percent should result in an employee only having to be tested twice in this process. 

• Vaccinated staff selected for weekly surveillance testing will be notified the day before for testing the following day. Unvaccinated employees will still be required to submit to weekly surveillance testing unless they show proof of vaccination status then an employee can move to participate in randomized pool testing.

We continuously monitor our data, and while vaccination rates for staff remain high, our data still shows that 67% of our staff's positive cases are from breakthrough cases. The purpose of randomized/pool testing is to identify potential COVID-positive staff members, some of whom may be asymptomatic, and minimize outbreaks of COVID-19 in our schools and in our community. 

Utilizing a random testing format will also minimize the disruption of the school day for staff by only being required to test in random intervals. 

Detailed testing instructions and information:

• Please create your portal and give consent by clicking the link below and using the access code associated with your home location.

 https://testcenter.concentricbyginkgo.com/invite-by-code

Testing will be conducted at the following locations and times.

Please note, these testing locations are for weekly surveillance testing only.  If you are exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19, please go to your nearest urgent care for immediate testing and self-quarantine until you receive your results.