Katy ISD Changes Free COVID Testing Location; Virtual Academy Starts Classes

KATY MAGAZINE NEWS

August 30, 2021

By Natalie Cook Clark

Katy ISD starts classes today for those students, kindergarten through 6th grade, that opted for virtual school. The District moved their free COVID testing site from the Merrell Center to the Agriculture Sciences Center.

Photo credit: KISD

KVA Starts Classes

Today is the first day of school for Katy ISD’s Virtual Academy (KVA.) The District offered virtual learning for kindergarten- 6th grade through October 15.

4,200 Katy ISD students chose to start the year in virtual school with KVA. The District offered virtual learning for K-6, the grade levels where students aren’t old enough for the COVID vaccine.

KVA is managed centrally this time rather than through home campuses, like how it was managed last year. Students will return to their regular home campus on Monday, October 18.

New COVID Testing Site

Katy ISD continues to offer currently enrolled students and staff (including their dependents under the District health plan) free COVID-19 rapid testing. Starting today, all testing will be at the Gary A. Voss Project Center, within the Agriculture Sciences Center.

Katy ISD Agricultural Sciences Center

Gary A. Voss Project Center

5801 Katy Hockley Cut-Off Road

Katy, TX 77493

“The process is quick and simple and both students and staff will receive their results within a matter of minutes,” says Lance Nauman, Director of Katy ISD Risk Management.

The free test is in collaboration with the Texas Education Agency (TEA) COVID-19 Testing Project.

Testing is Monday through Friday 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Reservations are required as well as parent permission. Around 300 students are tested a day and since the testing began the week of August 23, all spots have been filled.

Katy ISD will not accept any over the counter COVID-19 tests for a student to return to school after previously being positive, experiencing symptoms, or been exposed to someone who tested positive.

A Moving Number

The District continues to monitor local COVID numbers. Currently they report on their COVID-19 Dashboard 605 (516 students, 89 staff) active COVID cases. That number has gone down. At the start of the weekend it was approaching 700, but as cases recover numbers are dropped.

The Katy ISD Board of the Trustees is holding a Special Board Meeting tonight, August 30 to continue to address concerns over the ongoing pandemic.