Teachers and staff at Clayton County Schools must submit a negative COVID-19 test in order to return to buildings on Monday.

Clayton Superintendent Morcease Beasley said at a school board meeting earlier this week that all school workers will have to test for the virus in the coming days and that anyone who doesn’t comply will have to take sick leave days until they do.

“We’re expecting all employees at this point to show a negative test by Monday,” Beasley said. “Those who refuse to test, that’s like a positive result ...You will be required to quarantine for five days, or longer, until you bring us a negative test.”

Clayton County is one of several school systems that switched to remote learning this week because of the highly transmissible omicron variant. Atlanta Public Schools and school districts in DeKalb, Forsyth, Fulton and Rockdale also are holding classes online for the rest of the week.

The districts said they plan to resume face-to-face learning in buildings on Monday.

Beasley said testing will be available at all school sites this week and that the Clayton County Commission has agreed to supply additional kits for employees to check their COVID-19 status at home.

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