City to reopen schools to some students Feb. 1

Before Columbus COLUMBUS — City Schools reopens buildings to some students Feb. 1, the union representing more than 4,000 teachers and other employees said Wednesday evening it wants the initial round of COVID19 vaccinations available to all employees first.

Superintendent Talisa Dixon announced hours earlier Wednesday that after 11 months of students learning online from home, Columbus City Schools officials will reopen buildings to some students starting next month.

The first group will include all students in preschool and grades K-3; select students in all grade levels with “complex needs,” such as disabilities; and high school students in career-technical education programs at Columbus Downtown High School and the Fort Hayes Career Center.

“There will never be a perfect time, but we need to get our students back in school. We know that it’s important for us that they have some in-person learning,” Dixon told The Dispatch. “If we can do that and do that safely, in smaller cohorts, I think we should take that opportunity to do so.”

But the Columbus Education Association wants district employees to have availability to the initial round of COVID-19 vaccination before schools reopen. The union said that before the emergency approval of the vaccines by the federal Food and Drug Administration, it negotiated a comprehensive memorandum of understanding with the district for the 2020-2021 school year that includes “specific, contractually enforceable health and safety protocols that must be in place during various models of instruction, including blended learning.”

“Our members want nothing more than to return to in-person instruction as soon as safely possible. This means that the first round of COVID-19 vaccinations must be available to each returning Columbus City Schools employee prior to our students returning to blended learning,” said CEA President John Coneglio. “The news of the discovery of a more infectious variant of

COVID-19 here in Ohio on the very same day that a return to blended learning was announced only underscores the need to vaccinate first. Lives are at stake.”

The state’s largest school district with nearly 50,000 students enrolled, Columbus City Schools plans to bring nearly half of its students back to classrooms by Feb. 8, spokeswoman Jacqueline Bryant said. Families of the 1,079 students who qualify for the “complex needs” group have already been contacted.

Dixon acknowledged in the announcement of a return to classes for some students that the availability of COVID19 vaccines for Ohio’s school employees starting Feb. 1 is one of the “critical factors” in the district’s reopening plans.

The Feb. 1 restart date was first discussed in December, but that was prior to the rollout of vaccines, she noted.

To make the district’s employees eligible for vaccines, Dixon signed and sent a form to the Ohio Department of Health committing to reopening buildings in some form by March 1, the state’s required restart date. The district’s goal is to prioritize vaccines for teachers and school-based staff members who will be working directly with students, she said.

Columbus Public Health is helping the district prepare for reopening and vaccine administration. Employees will be told how to register when that information is available.

All Columbus City Schools students have been learning online from home since March 9, 2020, when Gov. Mike DeWine declared a state of emergency in Ohio because of the coronavirus pandemic. The district has considered returning students to buildings, but with COVID-19 unchecked, it has held off until now.

COVID-19 spread in Franklin County and statewide hasn’t significantly improved, though numbers have trended downward slightly after a holiday season peak. As of Wednesday, the county has logged more than 100,000 total cases, with about two-thirds in the city’s jurisdiction. The state has recorded nearly 800,000.