NJASA

The Road to Recovery 

The pandemic has exposed a myriad of societal problems. The recovery will identify more. But there is a bright light at the end of this long, dark pandemic tunnel. To get there we, as school leaders, must address one of the most evident problems at this stage in the pandemic, and that is the distribution of vaccines across our state to those who work in our schools and live in our communities. 

It was of course imperative that our first responders, essential workers, medical field workers, medically vulnerable, and senior citizens received the vaccine first. After these groups, those who work in public and private schools – K-12 schools, colleges, universities, daycare centers, and other educational institutions – should have been provided vaccinations next. We know that prioritising the vaccination of those who work with students will lead to an increase of in-person education, and we are actually starting to see the beginning of that happening now. With the increase in vaccinations at the education level, we can now begin the long road to remediating the academic and social-emotional deficits resulting from a year without consistent in-person schooling. But there are more in our field that need the vaccine. And there are many, many more in our school communities who need it too. Vaccinating one group and not addressing the other will slow our educational recovery as faculty, staff, and families will have some vaccinated and others not. To bring consistency and confidence in our return to in person schooling we need an increase in vaccinations and vaccination locations. So how do we get this accomplished moving forward?  

From a logistical point of view, New Jersey’s schools are ideal vaccination locations. Many districts have adequate parking, large indoor spaces, and staffing and communications capabilities that make them conducive for designated vaccination sites. Schools deal with large scale events and the logistics associated with them all the time. We plan student orientations, graduations, sporting events, and musicals that involve hundreds of people in attendance at one time. Let’s also not forget that we move hundreds of students and staff in and out of our schools daily, and transport students across our towns. School districts and our schools know how to plan for and set up large events, staff them, run them, and keep people safe. And during this pandemic, districts have learned to manage buildings while adhering to strict guidelines to keep people safe.

As a result, our schools should become essential vaccination sites for our teachers and staff, as well as our community members. Our schools know our community members, and our community members know us. There is comfort in, and less anxiety associated with, going to a place you know. Our community members often have the means to get to a school in the community but may not have the ability to get to a mega-site. They know how to navigate in and out of our facilities. Comfort and familiarity with their local schools may help our community members in their willingness to get vaccinated. Having to travel to an unknown location may delay or diminish the chances of some of our community members going to get the vaccination. 

In Hamilton Township School District (HTSD), Mercer County, we took this concept further and prepared to vaccinate our faculty and staff and were more than ready to assist our community. Our planning called for the ability to vaccinate 500 people per day. As a result of an overwhelming response to a district sign up and coordination and planning with Hamilton Township’s Health Department, we planned to vaccinate our faculty and staff as soon as vaccines were available to us. Unfortunately, in the early stages of the vaccine rollout, there were no vaccines available, so we told staff to sign up everywhere that offered it and to take the first shot available. This resulted in hundreds of staff traveling all over the state to receive a vaccine. It was great to see that they were getting the vaccine, but also disappointing as it could not happen in a school, in our community. 

During this time, Mercer County Superintendents Association began to advocate for vaccinating our district personnel and collaborated with Mercer County Education Association to make it happen in our county. Through advocacy, letters, and phone calls both Mercer County associations were able to connect and collaborate with the Governor’s Office and Walgreens to provide two days of vaccinations at Crockett Middle School in Hamilton Township. On those two days, we put our HTSD plan to the test. Instead of vaccinating 500 per day, we were able to vaccinate 997 one day and 1008 on the second day. The school provided an ideal place for the vaccinations. From the parking to the inside spaces, to the human resources; they all helped to make each day a success.   

Now that we have proof of concept that schools can do this and do it well, it is time to expand this opportunity across the state to vaccinate not just those who work in our schools but those who live around our schools and in our communities. New Jersey’s schools anchor our communities; and schools should be included in the vaccination process in order to do what parents within our own communities want us to do, what many of our state legislators want us to do, what all of us in education want to do: To safely return our students, faculty, and staff to our schools for in-person instruction. In addition, by putting the vaccines in our schools, we have an opportunity to help our most vulnerable and needy families who may not have the ability or means to go elsewhere for a vaccine.

Hopefully, those who are planning at the state level will consider this option and hopefully as school leaders you do too. I know as leaders in our districts we are always ready to roll up our sleeves and help our school communities. Now is an opportunity to roll up our sleeves to not only get the vaccine but provide the needed assistance and support so our communities can receive it too.

The bright light at the end of this dark pandemic tunnel will be here faster if we can get our schools to be vaccination sites and our faculty, staff and communities can be fully vaccinated, so we can begin the road to recovery and a return to fully operational schools.

Editor’s Note: This article is adapted from an Op-Ed published in NJSpotlight in February 2021.