State Sent Expired COVID Test Kits To Schools

BOSTON — Some of the 200,000 coronavirus test kits the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education sent to Massachusetts schools last week were expired, while other districts were not sent enough kits for all their teachers and staff members to take two tests before schools reopened Monday.

Last week, state Education Commissioner Jeffrey Riley said the state was sending 200,000 rapid tests kits to school districts —enough for every staff member to take two tests before students returned from winter break on Monday. A delay in delivering the kits forced several school districts to delay opening or cancel classes Monday.

The Boston Teachers Union said Tuesday that some of its members had received kits that had expired in November. School officials told those members they could swap their kits for new tests on Wednesday, the union said. More than 1,000 Boston Public Schools teachers, staff members and bus drivers were out on Tuesday.

Patch reached out to the Department of Public Health Tuesday and a spokesperson from the epidemiology lab couldn't confirm if expired tests could still provide accurate results or not. The spokeswoman did however recommend not using the test if it is expired.

Boston Public Schools received nearly 10,000 home tests. Spokesperson Jonathan Palumbo said the district handed out all the tests by noon on Monday, along with 30 KN95 masks for each staff member.

Boston isn't the only district that had difficulties with their state-issued COVID-19 rapid tests. In some Massachusetts school systems, teachers and staff members had to share the two-test kits because the state did not send enough to their district.

Staff at Rockland Public Schools were given an extra two-test kit by the school system before vacation, but when they returned from break, the state-issued kits were split up. Several teachers at Rockland High School said they received open kits with only one test in them, meaning they were unable to confirm a positive test result.

A teacher in West Bridgewater, who asked that her name not be used for publication, told Patch she received an open kit over the weekend. While everything inside the kit was sealed, she still felt uneasy when she took the test.

"It was well-intended, and at least we got something, but that's not what the state reported we were getting," she said. "They just didn't provide enough."