Wednesday, June 23, 2021
Dear District Administrators,
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) today announced COVID-19 testing support for Wisconsin K-12 public, private, and independent charter schools for the 2021-2022 school year.
This testing is intended to support healthy learning environments by helping to identify COVID-19 cases earlier and reduce community spread. Participation in the program is voluntary and free of charge. While DHS recommends following current CDC’s guidelines for school testing, the program is flexible for participating K-12 schools and districts to choose the type of COVID-19 testing that best meets their needs.
To opt-in to this federally funded resource, schools should complete the K-12 COVID-19 Testing Program Participation Survey by July 9, 2021 at 5 p.m. A PDF version of the survey is available for reference. Schools and districts will still be able to sign up for the program after this date, but those who complete the survey by July 9 are more likely to have testing services available for their first day of school.
A copy of the message was sent to school administrators yesterday. We hope that you will share information about this program within your networks and encourage schools to learn more about the testing resources available.
We appreciate all the input and feedback this group provided to help design this program.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions.
Sincerely,
Carolyn Stanford Taylor
State Superintendent