On the 16 and 18 of February 200 employees, teachers, and staff were vaccinated. Other faculty and staff are able to schedule appointments to get a vaccine.
“This is a one time shot clinic for teachers with underlying conditions and by age to get most at risk teachers vaccinated early,” director of operations for Albany County School District (ACSD) #1 Randy Wilkison said.
“Teachers all felt like they were taking a leap of faith at the beginning of the year. A lot of teachers were resigned they were going to get it,” Andy Pannell, math and science teacher and boys basketball coach for the UW Lab School, said.
Pannell has received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
“I was very excited getting a call for vaccine that was potentially going to go to waste from the Walmart pharmacy where I signed up,” Pannell said
“Barring any weather delays and as long as there’s enough vaccinations, most of our staff if they chose should be vaccinated by the end of April, if not before then,” director of human resources for ACSD #1, Scott James, said.
“The superintendent is working to see if we can get vaccinations quicker for teachers,” Wilison said. “We want to get them vaccinated as soon as possible but not with overriding the rest of the community like the people who are 65 and older.”
According to James there was only one teacher in quarantine for a positive COVID test as of February 12.
In the classroom Pannell said there are additional safety measures still being taken. The UW Lab School has air purifiers in classrooms as well as keeping windows open and everyone wears masks. Students are given their own tables for social distancing and teachers move between classes instead of students moving.
Surfaces are cleaned regularly and hands are washed frequently Pannell said. The Lab School teachers are also a part of the weekly university testing.
“Because of the generosity of the university to have a lot of space to spread out, we were able to stay open five days a week. Our school looks very similar to other years except we don’t work in groups,” Pannell said.
For public schools, online classes are still available.
“If parents had a concern in relation to their student they were able to request classroom based virtual instruction and there were staff providing instruction through that format,” James said.
The Classroom Based Virtual Instruction has both positive and negative reviews from students and parents.
“Similar to any educational format we’ve heard some students that have embraced and parents that have embraced it. We’ve heard some, based on our metrics, that are not as effective with it, still looking at the impacts,” James said.
Students are also still able to participate in sports such as basketball.
“Other than having to wear masks, [the games] felt very normal. In talking with both players and parents, there’s a lot of talk about mental health needs during the pandemic.
“Sports have a play in mental health and I saw it in the students who had something to look forward to and parents could venture out and watch their kids. I heard that from parents that their student was a happier young man since the basketball season started,” Pannell said.
Pannell said last Saturday was the final basketball game of the season. The team went through the season without shutting down due to COVID cases.
“It feels a little bit risky and yet given that we were wearing our masks we were fortunate to not have any issues,” Pannell said.
