Emporia Public Schools says more staffers will receive COVID-19 vaccinations as soon as next week.
Assistant Superintendent for Human Relations Kelly Bolin says Lyon County Public Health will start reserving 10 percent of upcoming vaccinations for the county’s three public school districts and Emporia’s two parochial schools beginning Monday. Bolin says staffers have self-reported their priority groupings, and she says two specific groups will be at the front of the line at this time.
Bolin says the change is meant to keep schools open with a “robust reaction” to the Moderna vaccine’s second dose. Across the country, some districts have vaccinated their entire staff on the same day. The concern is the potential number of staffers calling in sick after their secondary doses, which could lead to individual schools or entire districts shutting down for a day or two until staff levels return to normal.
The district has had about 150 of its better than 1,200 employees receive first-round COVID-19 vaccinations. About 100 may get their second-round doses this weekend.
Bolin says USD 253 has about 70 percent of the county’s K-12 education workforce.
Bolin also says there are a lot of concerns among district staff about the vaccines, including fears of other employees thinking bad about workers who don’t want the vaccinations or fears of an increased workload — especially jobs other employees don’t want — if they get vaccinated. Bolin says district administrators are reassuring staffers the goal is to help employees have access to the vaccinations if they want it without any judgment attached.
