School nurse Dorothy Burns gets a Moderna COVID-19 vaccination from a DeKalb County public health worker at the DeKalb COVID-19 BrandsMart USA drive through testing site on Jan. 7, 2021, in Doraville, Ga. (Curtis Compton/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP)
By Wilborn P. Nobles III
DeKalb County School District employees have until 5 p.m. Thursday to complete a survey soliciting their interest in receiving the coronavirus vaccine.
Melissa Harris, DeKalb’s deputy superintendent, told parents and staff in January that the district is partnering with the DeKalb County Board of Health to provide vaccinations once they are available. School nurses will get training on the vaccination process to give the doses to district employees.
Officials have not identified when and where vaccinations will occur. The Georgia Department of Public Health is currently administering the vaccines to people in Phase 1a+ — health care workers, residents and staff of long-term care facilities, adults aged 65 and older and law enforcement officials, firefighters and first responders.
DeKalb County Schools have been virtual-only since March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and officials have not said when in-person learning will begin again. School principals and staff returned to buildings Wednesday to prepare classrooms for the pending start of face-to-face learning.
The district, according to the survey, is preparing to issue vaccines and is seeking input from employees. Individual responses will be kept confidential, and the information gathered will be used for internal district planning when the vaccine becomes available. Employees can click here to take the survey.
Superintendent Cheryl Watson-Harris told parents last month that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that classrooms can reopen if communities embrace safety measures.
Watson-Harris initially said they would wait until there are fewer than 100 cases per 100,000 residents prior to reopening. She later said they would reconsider reopening if the two-week positivity rate drops below 10%, which has yet to happen either.
In a response to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution records request, the district said that 541 employees and 144 students have tested positive for COVID-19 from July 1 to Jan. 28.
Read the original story on AJC.com.
