NEW ORLEANS – NOLA Public Schools (NOLA-PS) has secured $775,000 in grants to expand COVID-19 testing efforts that have been integral to the preservation of in-person learning for students, teachers, and school staff across New Orleans.
The Rockefeller Foundation awarded NOLA-PS $675,000 and the Greater New Orleans Foundation (GNOF) delivered an additional $100,000.
NOLA-PS plans to spend the money on more COVID-19 tests, health and safety staffing, and increased data tracking to inform how to best marshal available resources to schools and help continue to mitigate the spread of this virus.
The grants will allow NOLA-PS to expand its COVID-19 testing efforts beyond its already successful partnerships with Children’s and Ochsner hospitals, making testing available to schools through the end of the 2020-2021 school year.
“New Orleans has been well ahead of the curve when it comes to the diligence necessary to keep our students, staff and teachers safe,” NOLA-PS Superintendent Henderson Lewis, Jr. said. “Testing is a big part of that effort, and this funding will help expand our efforts to protect our school community as best as possible in these uncertain times.”
NOLA-PS’s community of schools has diligently followed our Roadmap to Reopening, the guidelines that have allowed schools to meet the needs of their students and staff while applying COVID-19 prevention techniques specific to their varied facilities and missions.
“Getting our kids back in school and keeping them there safely is one of our community’s highest priorities,” GNOF President & CEO Andy Kopplin said. “We are thrilled to partner with NOLA-PS and the Rockefeller Foundation to support testing that will keep our students, their families, and our teachers and school personnel safe.”
Additionally, NOLA-PS has facilitated mobile testing sites in partnership with Children’s Hospital of New Orleans, as well as partnering with the City of New Orleans, the Louisiana Department of Health and the U.S. National Guard to encourage people to use community testing sites stations around New Orleans.
“I applaud NOLA-PS for making COVID testing such a priority in its response to the pandemic,” New Orleans Health Director Dr. Jennifer Avegno said. “It is a linchpin in our effort to slow the spread of this virus, and it will be especially crucial to help us treat both COVID and the likely rise in flu cases this winter.”
