BY LUCIE KRISMAN
Teachers can most likely expect vaccinations to begin to be available in early to mid-February, Douglas County Public Health Director Dan Partridge told the Eudora School Board Thursday.
Teachers are part of Phase 2 of vaccination rollout in Douglas County, which will begin next month. Although exact timing is contingent on continuing vaccine supply, Partridge said possible ways to extend staff in the process, such as allowing school nurses to vaccinate staff, could be explored.
"We're going to do everything we can to make sure that every barrier that we can knock down gets knocked down so that teachers and critical staff can get vaccinated in Phase 2," Partridge said.
Superintendent Steve Splichal said the district’s participation in asymptomatic saliva testing has been active and that the number of asymptomatic students and staff utilizing it has grown.
“I think we've had pretty good turnout,” Splichal said. “I’m very impressed with the turnaround time. I can submit a test today, drop that off at LMH [Health] this afternoon and before I am at work in the morning, I'm going to have my results back.”
On Friday, Splichal sent a message to Eudora families noting the county Health Department had placed Douglas County in the Orange Phase, resulting in a shift back to the hybrid learning models at each building Tuesday.
Since there isn’t school Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, there will not be a remote Wednesday this coming week, he said.
Since Monday, the district reported several new student cases of COVID-19 and two new staff cases.
The board also reviewed the drafted 2021-2022 school calendar. The calendar begins in September and ends in May with two built-in inclement weather days. Early August will be set aside for new staff to participate in onboarding and orientation. The calendar will be voted on at a later date.
Splichal said the 2021-2022 calendar represents a return to school operations as they existed before the COVID-19 pandemic, such as with the inclusion of inclement weather days.
"This calendar really restores back to what previous years' calendars look like," Splichal said.
The board also elected Mark Chrislip as president and Mike Kelso as vice president. Chrislip thanked former president Eric Votaw for his leadership and dedication to his role.
"I've had the privilege of working with a lot of really good presidents, but I would rank Eric as one of the best that we've had in the district," Chrislip said. "Thank you very much for your passion and your dedication to the district."