High percentage of district staff indicate they’ll get the shot
By Dave Fidlin
Correspondent
Despite a limited supply during the initial rollout, most of the teachers interested in receiving a COVID-19 vaccine within the Waterford Graded School District have reportedly been able to receive it or will receive in in the a month or so.
District Administrator Ed Brzinski said 75 to 80% of the teachers within one of WGSD’s four schools have indicated they are willing to receive the shot.
“I think most of the people have been able to get the inoculation as quickly as possible,” Brzinski said as he offered an update at WGSD’s most recent regular School Board meeting Jan. 25.
The majority of teachers who are interested in receiving the vaccine will be able to do so when Phase 1B begins, which Brzinski said would be sometime after March 1. Staff members who have already received the vaccine did so because they were categorized in Phase 1A, he said.
Brzinski cited several reasons for the relatively seamless process, including the district’s participation in an organized nursing cooperative that is the result of pooled resources with Waterford Union High School and the other K-8 feeder districts: Washington-Caldwell, Drought and North Cape.
Of the WGSD teachers and other faculty who have received the first dose of the vaccine, Brzinski said the reaction rate has been mild.
“That’s been pretty positive,” he said. Of the continued rollout of the vaccine, Brzinski said, “Quite honestly, we can’t wait.”
As with other area public school districts, WGSD has maintained a hands-off approach in requiring staff members to obtain a vaccine as a condition of employment.
When the WUHS School Board met the same night, officials in that district went so far as to state in a policy that vaccination would not be required.
Editor’s note: The version of this story that appeared in the Feb. 5 edition of The Waterford Post included a headline that incorrectly stated up to 80% of teachers at one of the district’s school had already received the vaccine. The headline should have indicated that up to 80% of teachers at the school are receptive to receiving the vaccine.
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