ANN ARBOR, MI – A partnership between Ann Arbor Public Schools and Michigan Medicine to quickly vaccinate teachers and staff will have an influence on the district’s recommendation to return students to classrooms, officials said.
AAPS superintendent Jeanice Swift and the district school board announced their partnership with the health care system on Tuesday, February 23, the day before the school board meeting to discuss plans to bring students back to school. classroom learning.
District officials noted that significant progress has been made in the past few days in their efforts to obtain rapid COVID-19 tests and ensure that employees have access to vaccines, with “major events” taking place this weekend.
The Washtenaw County Department of Health is working with Michigan Medicine and IHA to vaccinate approximately 1,200 elementary school educators on Saturday, February 27. In addition to vaccinations, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has allowed AAPS to expand rapid tests 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 meeting these critical goals,” says an AAPS statement. “This promising change in events is the result of the advocacy work of many.”
This news will inform the recommendation that the school board will consider at the meeting this Wednesday, February 24, now scheduled to start at noon, according to the statement.
The developments are a “game changer” for healthy and safe re-entry into AAPS school buildings, school officials said.
The health department is providing the vaccine outside its state allocation this week and is working directly with schools and county districts to connect its staff to the appropriate vaccination registration partner.
School staff aged 50 and over have been offered vaccination appointments, but in the future, appointment requests are being opened to all eligible school staff through an invitation process.
“The limited supply of vaccines continues to hamper our local efforts to reach everyone currently eligible for the COVID-19 vaccination,” said Jimena Loveluck, health officer for the Washtenaw County Health Department, in a press release. “This week, we are grateful to have enough doses available to join Michigan Medicine and IHA to offer vaccination to our first elementary school educators as efficiently as possible.”
Pressure has continued to build on AAPS in the past few weeks as to whether it will remain mostly remote learning for the rest of the year or whether it will set a target date for students to return to the classroom.
Last week, the Ann Arbor School Board voted to direct Swift to come up with a plan to allow education to remain virtual for the rest of the year 2020-21, with the exception of serving those in greatest need. The decision came almost five and a half hours after a meeting on a motion that opposing curators described as hasty, surprising and radical.
After the meeting, Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor and several city council members asked the district to confirm its previously established hybrid learning format and set a return date.
Since then, the council has clarified in a message to families that it has not decided to remain in fully virtual education for the rest of the year and that it has not yet voted to change or alter its approved transition to a hybrid learning option.
Instead, council members said their intention is to set a date when the most vulnerable students can safely return to school buildings, help students struggling more with the current virtual model, help parents and guardians Who requested assistance with their students’ learning, helping families with planning for the rest of the school year and focusing efforts on an improved summer program and a strong and safe return to schools in the fall.
The district in January intended to return to face-to-face classes in early March. The students have remained in distance learning since last March.
The current district plan proposes to bring students back to internships, with the first internship including pre-kindergarten, five-year-old and kindergarten students who have chosen the hybrid face-to-face learning model, as well as students with needs high-level specialized learning
Small groups of elementary and high school students who most need face-to-face classes were also included. Additional internships proposed bringing students back by grade in one-week increments, with elementary and high school students entering the hybrid format last.
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