The Kansas City, Kansas Public School District hopes this week to give 1,000 district employees the COVID-19 vaccine.
The district is working with the Wyandotte County Health Department to get shots into the arms of teachers and staff.
Phase 2 of the Kansas vaccine distribution plan includes essential workers.
K-12 teachers, custodians, drivers and other district staff are part of that group.
“The goal for me is that we get everyone who wants the vaccine, a vaccine administered to them,” KCKPS Interim Superintendent Dr. Alicia Miguel said.
About half of KCKPS employees indicated in a survey they would be interested in receiving the vaccine, a district spokesperson told 41 Action News.
Dr. Miguel believes it's a tool to safely get students and teachers back into the classrooms.
“I think it’s a first step to keeping staff safe because we know that it will help you not get sick,” she said. “What we do not know yet is whether you can still pass the virus or whether you can still infect other people so we are not taking away any of the other mitigating procedures that we have in place.”
Employees who receive the vaccine will still be required to wear masks and social distance.
“If the supply keeps coming at the rate it came this week, I think it’s safe to say within a few weeks we may have all of our staff members who have received the first dose. But again, we don’t control that,” Miguel.
The district is dependent on the supply provided by the government, she said.
No plans have been finalized for every student to return to in-person learning.
The Board of Education approved the district’s recommendations to allow some students to return in February to in-person learning.
Students in K-5 who struggle with absenteeism and are at high risk of not progressing because of subpar grades will be allowed to return to in-person learning the week of February 22.
The district said students in foster care, facing homelessness, have behavioral problems or spent less than a year in the U.S. also can return to in-person learning the week of February 22.
High school seniors at risk of not graduating on time also will be allowed to return to in-person learning.
