‘Best news we’ve heard all year’
Town’s teachers celebrate new COVID vaccination plan
GREENWICH — For teachers, Monday brought with it the “best news we’ve heard all year.”
Carol Sutton, president of the Greenwich Education Association, was not alone in celebrating Gov. Ned Lamont’s Monday announcement that there would be dedicated clinics set up starting in March to provide COVID-19 vaccinations to pre-K to grade 12 school staff and teachers and professional childcare providers.
No immediate announcements were made about whether Greenwich would host any of those dedicated clinics, but Sutton said the immediate response from teachers was enthusiastic.
“We support anything that gets the vaccination into the arms of K-12 educators in an expeditious manner,” Sutton said Monday afternoon after Lamont’s announcement. “The idea that it would be in special clinics and our educators will not be required to get into the myriad of choices for where to be vaccinated with others is a welcome piece of news.”
The lack of priority for teachers, particularly with all the close contact they have with students on a daily basis, has been a sticking
Even with the good news for teachers, Sutton said the next milestone with be vaccines approved for students.
point for educator unions throughout the state. The GEA rallied with other teachers unions in July to protest the reopening of in-person classroom learning this fall due to the health and safety concerns for teachers.
“We recognize the light at the end of the tunnel was the vaccination train and this is a relief,” Sutton said, adding that the announcement was evidence that Lamont was listening to teachers.
Greenwich has had its schools open since the beginning of the school year. All of the town’s elementary and middle schools have been fully opened with in-person learning. Greenwich High School has had a hybrid model with half the students in class on Monday and Tuesday and the other half in class Thursday and Friday, leaving time for deep cleaning on Wednesdays and weekends.
“Obviously this is very welcome news for our teachers and staff as teaching through this pandemic has been challenging on many levels,” Board of Education Chair Peter Bernstein said Monday. “I appreciate all of their hard work and perseverance to get us to this point in the school year and allow our students to continue inperson learning.”
Even with the good news for teachers, Sutton said the next milestone with be vaccines approved for students.
“We know that could be down the road but we’re hoping that also comes through quickly because of all of the challenges associated with pandemic education,” she said. “We’re not out of the woods until the students have the same availability of vaccines as we do.”