View Motion

Order ID#:

Motion ID#:

Original Meeting Date:

Lead Motion Maker:

Co-Sponsors:

Original Motion Content:
<p>Whereas the City of Cambridge and Cambridge Public Schools aim to ensure that schools are effectively surveilled for COVID-19 in order to mitigate the spread of the virus; and </p> <p>Whereas the City of Cambridge is densely populated, with more than 7,000 students enrolled in the Cambridge Public School system; and </p> <p>Whereas regular and repeated testing of entire school populations has been proven to substantially mitigate spread; and </p> <p>Whereas Governor Baker's administration urges districts to continue and expand in-person learning options and CPSD is committed to ensuring that in-person learning in Cambridge is as safe as possible; and </p> <p>Whereas CPSD provides in-building testing twice a week to all educators and staff, and seeks to maximize participation in testing; and </p> <p>Whereas CPSD currently offers onsite testing only to symptomatic students who are learning in-person; and </p> <p>Whereas the nearby municipalities of Somerville and Medford have partnered with Tufts University, which will cover half the costs and provide support, to pool samples together that are screened by the Broad Institute to monitor everyone within a school "all teachers twice a week and all students once a week" at about a third of the cost of the standard individual tests, with individual follow-up testing in the event of a positive result; and </p> <p>Whereas a pool testing program may allow the Cambridge Public Schools to regularly and cost-effectively screen asymptomatic students, and increase the participation of educators and staff while reducing cost, with only a fraction of the analysis required of standard individual tests; now therefore be it Resolved that the Superintendent work with the Safety, Health, and Facilities Working Group and Cambridge Public Health Department to explore the possibility of implementing a pool testing strategy and whether it can be effective and applicable to the Cambridge Public School community.</p>