ANN ARBOR, MI - A partnership between Ann Arbor Public Schools and Michigan Medicine to quickly vaccinate teachers and staff will factor into the district’s recommendation to return students to the classroom, officials said.
AAPS Superintendent Jeanice Swift and the district’s school board announced the partnership with the health system on Tuesday, Feb. 23, a day before the school board is scheduled to meet to discuss plans to bring students back to in-person learning.
District officials noted significant progress has been made in recent days in its efforts to achieve rapid COVID-19 testing and ensuring staff has access to vaccines, with “major events” taking place this weekend.
The Washtenaw County Health Department is working with Michigan Medicine and IHA to vaccinate approximately 1,200 elementary school educators on Saturday, Feb 27. In addition to the vaccinations, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has permitted AAPS to expand rapid testing for students and staff in school buildings, school officials said.
“Since the January announcement that K-12 educators would be eligible for vaccination, we have been disappointed that Washtenaw County has lagged behind other counties in achieving these critical goals,” an AAPS statement reads. “This promising turn of events is the result of the advocacy work of many.”
This news will inform the recommendation the school board will consider at it’s Wednesday, Feb. 24 meeting, now scheduled to begin at noon, according to the statement.
The developments are a “game-changer” for a healthy and safe reentry to AAPS school buildings, school officials said.
The health department is providing the vaccine out of its state allocation this week and is working directly with county schools and districts to connect their staff to the appropriate partner for vaccination registration.
School employees 50 years and older have been offered vaccination appointments, but, moving forward, appointment requests are being opened up to all eligible school employees using an invitation process.
“Limited vaccine supplies continue to hamper our local efforts to reach everyone currently eligible for COVID-19 vaccination,” said Jimena Loveluck, Washtenaw County Health Department health officer, said in a news release. “This week, we’re grateful to have enough doses available to team up with Michigan Medicine and IHA to offer vaccination to our early elementary educators as efficiently as possible.”
Pressure has continued to build on AAPS in recent weeks regarding whether it would mostly remain in remote learning for the remainder of the year, or if it would establish a target date for students’ return to the classroom.
Last week, the Ann Arbor School Board voted to direct Swift to present a plan for allowing instruction to remain virtual for the remainder of the 2020-21 year, with the exception of serving those with the greatest needs. The decision came nearly five-and-a-half hours into a meeting on a motion opposing trustees described as rushed, a surprise and radical.
After the meeting, Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor and several city council members asked that the district confirm its previously-established hybrid learning format and establish a target date of return.
The board has since clarified in a message to families that it has not decided to remain in fully virtual instruction for the remainder of the year and that it has not yet voted to change or alter its approved transition to a hybrid learning option.
Instead, board members said their intent is to establish a date on which the most vulnerable students may safely return to the school buildings, assist students struggling the most under the current virtual model, help parents and caregivers who have requested assistance with their students’ learning, assist families in planning for the rest of the school year and focus efforts on an enhanced summer program and a strong and safe return to schools in the fall.
The district in January targeted an early March return to in-person classes. Students have remained in remote learning since last March.
The district’s current plan proposes bringing students back in stages, with the first stage including students in pre-kindergarten, young fives and kindergarten who have chosen the hybrid in-person learning model, as well as students with high-level specialized learning needs.
Also included were small groups of middle and high school students most in-need of in-person classes. Additional stages proposed bringing students back by grade level in one-week increments, with middle and high school students entering the hybrid format last.
READ MORE:
Ann Arbor School Board to vote on plan for most students to finish year virtually
Mayor, council members urge Ann Arbor schools to offer hybrid learning, target return date
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