Superintendent House visits COVID-19 testing sites to promote safety

Superintendent Millard House visited Sam Houston Math Science and Technology Center on the first day of testing on HISD campuses as part of an ongoing effort to promote COVID-19 onsite testing for students and staff.

Sam Houston MSTC is one of many HISD campuses offering on-campus testing. Information regarding onsite testing can be found here. The testing program is completely voluntary and requires a student’s parent/guardian to first provide a one-time consent by completing a digital consent form available at HoustonISD.org/HealthAlerts.  

“As our students returned to the classroom and staff came back to work after winter break, we have continued to lead the way with safety at the forefront of all our decisions,” House said.

HISD has expanded partnerships with community leaders and health officials to provide additional COVID-19 testing and vaccination opportunities to the community. At least 85 percent of HISD campuses will be on a weekly or bi-weekly schedule to host testing opportunities.

The free COVID-19 testing is meant to add another layer of protection to HISD’s safety protocols and promotes equity by ensuring every student has access to testing.

Sam Houston principal Alan Summers believes having a testing site on campus helps students, parents, and staff have peace of mind.

“It’s a wonderful resource for us to have,” Summers said. “Just knowing the lines are so long at testing facilities around, it would take a long time for teachers and students, so being able to test students here is great.”