The Revere Local Schools administration placed new temperature scanners in the schools to detect and prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the district.
Purchased from OV Solutions Inc., seven new temperature scanners are located inside the Revere High School building. The temperature scanners, approved by the Revere Local Schools Board of Education, are a convenient alternative to self-scanning at home or regular thermometers. Superintendent Matthew Montgomery revealed the options before the decisions of implementing the temperature scanners.

“We would have parents self screen for temperature or . . . we would encourage them to self screen, then reaffirm the temperature when the students and staff arrived,” Montgomery said.

Rather than at-home scanning, these machines provide an efficient way to check temperatures responsibly and contact-free. According to OV Solutions Inc., the temperature scanners take the subject’s temperature from a laser sensor. These machines will alert on high temperatures. Philip King, the principal of Revere High School, stated that the temperature scanners check an important symptom of COVID-19.

“I do believe the machines are effective because . . . . [they] check a major symptom,” King said.

Retired Revere teacher and current School Board member Claudia Hower gave her thoughts on the implementation of these devices and the school’s COVID-19 response.

“With the current COVID-19 pandemic, our district needs to take as many precautions as possible to keep all students and staff safe,” Hower said.

Hower explained that the Board and various administrators included the devices as part of their plan to start Revere safely.

“The Revere School Board approved the Revere Restart Responsibility plan,” Hower said.
Consequently, Hower says we must be ready to change at any time.

“We need to continue to monitor what is happening in our schools and adapt as necessary,” Hower said.

A COVID-19 dashboard, located on the Revere Local Schools webpage, displays the number of cases and people quarantined. In addition to this number, Montgomery explains that the number of students who want to start or come back to school are increasing because of the successful response.

“86-87% of families are sending their students to brick and mortar. . . approximately 13% are choosing the remote option and in the first four weeks of school, we had numerous requests for option two students to come to option one or back to option one,” Montgomery said.

King maintained confidence in students to correctly follow the guidelines set by the school. As the success of this restart program not only relies on the accuracy of these machines, but also the way people react. Hower and King both thanked the staff and students for adhering to the guidelines.

“I think that our staff, our students, and our community members have taken this very seriously and I’m really pleased with the response that we’ve gotten here in the high school,” King said.