BY MATT LINDSEY
North Country This Week

CANTON — Canton Central School will have an app that parents and staff will use to share temperatures and possible COVID-19 symptoms with school officials.

The original screening app that about 13 districts will use was not delivered on time, according to CCS Superintendent Ron Burke.

He said BOCES created an app on very short notice that CCS will be able to use. It should be sent out to families in the coming days.

“I can’t thank BOCES enough,” Burke said at the Sept. 4 school board meeting.

Temperature scanners that will scan a person’s hand have also been ordered and will be used at entrances to the school buildings.

The governor has indicated to school officials that they will be required to enter data daily into a state website that indicates the number of students and staff that the district has tested for COVID-19, and what the results of those tests are.

“The only snafu in that plan that he has put forward is we are not doing that,” Burke said.

He said he was not aware of any St. Lawrence County schools that are testing anyone for COVID-19. “That was part of our DOH requirement,” Burke said.

He said school officials will work with public health when officials feel a test was needed.

Burke said local districts are working to get clarification from the governor’s office to get better guidance on what is expected of schools and when it needs to be implemented.

The superintendent said it was not clear if the state had a website ready to roll out for the beginning of school on Tuesday.

Public health and health care providers will ultimately decide who needs to be tested, he said.

Burke addressed a rumor that was allegedly circulating on Facebook.

“There was some widespread rumors on Facebook … I know that’s hard to believe … that schools were now collaborating with the county, the DSS, to take children who are showing COVID-like symptoms without parent authorization and taking them to the hospital and isolating them without consent for 14 days. That is not happening. There is nothing that could be further from the truth.”

Burke answered questions from parents during the meeting. One parent asked if all students and staff would be tested for COVID-19 prior to school starting.

Burke said that he is not aware of any school requiring a negative COVID-19 test in order to attend school.

“The COVID test result is good to the point that the COVID test is taken,” Burke said. What that means is, at any time after the test, a person could come into contact with someone who has COVID-19.

He said that a COVID test is more of a “feel-good measure” and it does not guarantee anyone’s safety.

Burke also pointed out the testing capacity issue. He said there are about 9,000 students in St. Lawrence County. Testing results can take a week or longer.

“Unless you’ve isolated yourself since the time you took the test to the time you walk in school … it might make us feel good, but it’s not going to make us necessarily safer.