Bowler School District to offer COVID-19 testing

The Bowler School District is offering free COVID-19 testing at the school for students and staff.

“The Wisconsin Department of Health Services sent out surveys to districts saying this is going to be an option for you, free of charge,” said Superintendent Glenda Butterfield-Boldig. “So we filled out this survey to explain what would best meet our needs, and then they partnered us with providers to help fill the needs.”

Butterfield-Boldig said that Bowler indicated that it wanted an option for students and staff to take a COVID-19 test if they believed that they have been exposed or are showing symptoms. She also detailed other options that could have been chosen.

“Other options that we could have chosen were weekly screenings or event testing,” said Butterfield-Boldig. “We said that we were just interested in giving people the option. Not a requirement or a mandate, we just wanted to the give the option to make people feel more comfortable and confident in how we were handling things.”

Prevea partnered with Bowler for the tests.

“They are the one that are providing us the rapid antigen tests,” said Butterfield-Boldig. “We get results within 15 minutes.”

She said that the school nurse is available for two days a week and will administer tests. She also said one member of the secretarial staff has been trained in performing the test.

The COVID-19 test in the district is a nasal test.

Butterfield-Boldig said that as soon as the school gets results for the test, they get sent to the Shawano County Health Department.

“We can find out within 15 minutes if someone is positive or negative,” said Butterfield-Boldig. “One of the things that we learned from the pandemic was that we were being extremely cautious. We know that there are other factors that can cause COVID-like symptoms. With these tests, we know for sure if someone tests negative that they can stay at school.”

She said that if a student has symptoms and tests negative, then they can return to class and school officials can contact that student’s parents to give them an update.

“This gives us better information to make the best decisions,” said Butterfield-Boldig.

According to Butterfield-Boldig there were a couple of reasons why the school district found it necessary to include these tests within the school.

“First of all we want to keep students and staff in the building,” said Butterfield-Boldig. “We also want to keep families and staff feeling confident in our response. This also helps us get quick answers in case we have to use those mitigation strategies.”

The Bowler school district received their tests on Sep. 2 and hope to to begin testing soon. In order to receive the test, consent forms are sent to parents. A consent form will be sent out every three months to parents.

“We are not trying to get this signed consent every time they take a test,” said Butterfield-Boldig. “Students may be tested more than once in three months. Our plans for students are to contact that parent every time their child gets tested. We don’t want to make it look like we are over testing.”

She also said that there are guidelines in place from the state saying that students 14 and older must also give consent to get tested.

“If a mom says it’s OK to get a test, but the student says that they don’t want it, then we can’t do it,” said Butterfield-Boldig.

Butterfield-Boldig said that she has not heard any reaction from Bowler and surrounding communities in the school district yet.

“From my perception, staff are feeling good about having it as an option,” said Butterfield-Boldig.

She also said the school district is unable to provide the tests to families of students and staff. With that, Butterfield-Boldig believes that this a positive for the school.

“I am happy that we have staff that are willing to do this,” said Butterfield-Boldig. “I like that we can offer this five days a week. It is one more layer that we can put into our mitigation strategies that we can make the best decision with the given information.”

Butterfield-Boldig said that the qualified staff are able to administer the test after watching a video that walked them through training.

lreimer@newmedia-wi.com