Denver Early Learning School Starts First-Of-Its-Kind COVID Testing Program

Northeast Denver's Clayton Early Learning school has started a COVID-19 testing program that is the first of its kind in Colorado.

The early childhood learning organization has recently partnered with COVIDCheck Colorado to make sure their students and staff remain safe as the pandemic continues.

On the Clayton campus, COVID-19 testing is done regularly and free of charge for students and staff.

While other districts in Denver have started offering free testing, Clayton also offers free testing to other household members that live with students and staff. The school says their program is the first to do this in Colorado.

Every two weeks, the school administers free COVID-19 testing to their staff, students, and their families.

"We’ve had a great opportunity since early September to be doing symptomatic virus testing here at Clayton,” President and CEO Becky Crowe told 9NEWS. “With the pandemic, we’ve been able to get a majority of our staff tested and that’s enabled us to stay open, healthy, and safe during this really difficult time.”

Clayton Early Learning takes students between three and five years old in the Denver metro area. Their student body of 500 is also part of the Head Start and Early Head Start program, according to 9NEWS.

In March, Clayton Early Learning had to close its doors due to the pandemic.

"There’s so many things that have become evident to people of the course of the pandemic in terms of inequities in our society,” said Crowe. “100% of our students live below the poverty line here in Denver and the majority of our kids are kids of color.”

The campus also runs a free drive-through community testing site every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning from 7:15 A.M. to 9:00 A.M.

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