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HCPSS is offering a voluntary K-12 COVID-19 Testing Program that will provide free COVID-19 tests for students and school-based staff who develop COVID-like symptoms or are identified as close contacts while they are in a school building. Parents/guardians should not send their children to school, and staff should not report to work if they are presenting COVID-like symptoms.
The program includes two components:
- Administration of two types of COVID-19 tests - rapid antigen point-of-care (POC) and/or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) specimen collection - as needed, and
- Sharing test results with the Maryland Department of Health and Howard County Health Department for contact tracing purposes. Disclosure of this information is protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act* and requires your consent before it can be shared.
*Pursuant to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. ยง 1232g; 34 C.F.R. part 99), the written consent of a parent or eligible student is required before the education records of a student, or personally identifiable information contained therein, may be disclosed to a third party, unless an exception to this general requirement of written consent applies.