KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City, Missouri, Public School District announced Thursday that all of its employees will have the option to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
The district is partnering with the Truman Medical Center to vaccinate any employee who wants to receive the vaccine.
Once the district gauges interest, a schedule will be developed to administer the vaccine in February. School nurses will be vaccinated this week.
The hope is to make it possible to return to in-person learning in March.
“We need to get our students back to in-person learning, and we know that the fastest and safest way to do that is through vaccinations,” Superintendent Mark Bedell said in a release. “I am grateful for our public health partners and am personally ready to get vaccinated as soon as possible.”
Read the letter sent to KCPS families below.
Greetings, KCPS families!
We’re eager to share some important updates about the COVID-19 vaccine and our plans to bring students back into our school buildings for in-person learning this spring.
Truman Medical Center is partnering with KCPS to administer the new COVID-19 vaccine for KCPS employees. Public health officials have placed a high priority on getting educators and school district staff vaccinated in order to accelerate a return to normal for schools. We will be gathering input from our employees and developing a vaccine schedule for any employee who wants to receive the vaccine. The vaccine is currently scheduled to be administered to our employees in February.
Every staff member will be given the opportunity to receive the vaccine, which will put us in a position to welcome students back into our school buildings for in-person learning in March. From the very beginning of this pandemic, our policy has been to make decisions based on science and data. We will continue to follow that policy. That means doing everything possible to maximize the health and wellness of students, families, staff and visitors as we return to in-person teaching and learning.
We will provide more details and specific dates for our return to school buildings as we complete our employee vaccination plans. Updates are posted regularly on our website at www.KCPublicSchools.org. We hope our consistent and thoughtful approach to the pandemic thus far has provided a sense of comfort and predictability for you, even in uncertain times. Thank you for remaining our partners during this year. We appreciate you and look forward to our next phase of learning together.
