Health director: ‘We didn’t grill them’

Some school staff, board members and spouses received COVID-19 vaccine before teachers

At a Southbury clinic where about 300 educators were vaccinated last month, signs reminded people they had to be eligible for their dose.

On the registration form, patients attested to being in the “phase 1b” group the state permitted to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

“But we didn’t grill them,” said Neal Lustig, director of the Pomperaug District Department of Health, which ran the clinic for Region 14 and 15 schools, in addition to Oxford. “[We didn’t ask] ‘Are you an educator? What do you do? How often are you with kids? Do you have underlying

medical conditions?’ ”

Yet, Region 14 teachers claim administrators, school board members and spouses were vaccinated that day alongside other educators. They say those limited doses — available at a rare clinic for educators that the state allowed — should have gone to staff members who work closely with students and are most vulnerable to the virus. Region 14 includes Bethelehem and Woodbury schools.

“There were many teachers with underlying health conditions who were not vaccinated due to an exhaustion of the vaccine supplies,” Chris York, president of the Nonnewaug Teachers Association, wrote in a letter to the school board.

The board has launched an investigation into the issue, while the teachers’ union says they have “no confidence” in the superintendent and called for his dismissal. Two board members resigned.

But Oxford and Region 15, which includes Southbury and Middlebury, have not faced similar complaints. The superintendents there said they prioritized staff based on age or health conditions. It meant the vast majority of staff ages 65 and over in Region 15 were vaccinated.

“It allowed us to begin to vaccinate some of our most at-risk staff,” said Joshua Smith, superintendent in Region 15. “That has really helped build some confidence in keeping schools open.”

Educators are not yet eligible for the vaccine, but these districts had already scheduled appointments before the state clarified who was eligible. The state allowed Pomperaug’s clinic and some others to continue.

Pomperaug held one clinic with educators on Wednesday, Jan. 20 and switched to vaccinating residents ages 75 and older after that. The health department covers Southbury, Woodbury and Oxford, a town that has vaccinated all of its 75-and-over population, according to the state.

Second doses for the educators are scheduled for next Wednesday at Pomperaug High School, said Lustig, the head of the Pomperaug Health District.

Picking who was vaccinated

Pomperaug Health District had been working with the three school districts for a month or two prior to the clinic to prepare for the vaccine’s arrival, but the districts decided who would get the doses.

“They were making lists, trying to assess their educators and who would be a priority,” Lustig said. “That was up to them.”

Smith said Region 15 surveyed its staff around Thanksgiving to see who wanted the vaccine.

The district then looked at staff members’ ages, medical conditions and role they play in the schools when determining who should get the doses first. The latter included examining how frequently the educator might be with an unmasked student, he said.

“Only employees of the school district were ever on any schedule to be vaccinated,” Smith said.

Region 14 sent a survey, too, to everyone who has a district email account, Superintendent Joseph Olzacki said. The district’s COVID officer tried to ensure every group — such as teachers, custodians and paraprofessionals — had the opportunity for the vaccine.

“The man was as equitable as he knew how to be,” Olzacki said.

Citing privacy concerns, he said he does not know who was on the list.

York claims two spouses “appeared’ on the Region 14 email system as volunteers after the superintendent had said teachers with underlying health conditions, followed by those who work in close contact with their students, would be prioritized.

Only around five of the about 85 staff members at Nonnewaug High School got the vaccine, York said. He has a health condition and was one of them.

Oxford identified staff based on age or preexisting condition, school Superintendent Jason McKinnon said. The district did not use other criteria, such as teachers, paraprofessionals, custodians or administrators to rank who should go first, he said.

The three school districts divided the number of doses they would get by student population size. Region 15, the largest district, was allocated 148 doses, Smith said.

All educators would have been vaccinated if the state hadn’t canceled the other clinics, Olzacki said.

“If the state had not changed anything, we would not be talking today,” he said.

George Bauer, school board chairman in Region 14, said he thought all the district’s educators would be vaccinated, despite the canceled clinics.

“Maybe it was the day or two after that, I realized it was much more limiting than originally thought,” he said.

Bauer and Olzacki declined to say whether they got vaccinated. Neither knew how many doses Region 14 received.

The state asks clinics to put up signs saying patients must be in the right group, Lustig said. Patients must also sign a form saying they are eligible. But clinics do not need to check for identification or confirm ages, he said.

“We’re not a liquor store,” Lustig said.

Doing so could deter people from getting vaccinated, he said.

“The state was worried if it got that far, intrusive, that would hinder people from getting vaccinated, especially in certain communities where they don’t like being grilled,” Lustig said.

Saving doses from the garbage

At the end of the clinic, about 25 doses were left over, sending Smith on a mad dash to find recipients.

“I was a complete lunatic that afternoon,” he said. “I was not throwing out any doses. I was literally running through the hallways of the high school.”

It’s typical to have extra doses because some people do not show up, Lustig said. The clinic monitors to see how much they will have left over and calls people on the waiting list.

“The day the clinic was supposed to end at 4 p.m.,” he said. “It just ran on and on.”

Officials expected 10 extra doses, not 25, Smith said. There was no time to call anyone from Oxford or Region 14, so everyone who received the extra doses worked at Pomperaug High School or a nearby building, he said.

“Every single person was an employee of the district,” Smith said. “We didn’t go out to Main Street and flag people down.”

Who’s next?

Other school districts plan to follow the state guidance when prioritizing how to distribute the vaccine to their staff.

“We don’t know how they’re going to do it next,” Smith said.

Beginning Thursday, residents ages 65 and older could register for the vaccine. Danbury has uploaded its list of 65-and-older staff, who can be vaccinated at Rogers Park Middle School.

“Board of Education members were not included on our lists of employees who we entered into VAMS (Vaccine Administration Management System),” Kim Thompson, Danbury human resources director, said in an email.

She plans to listen to the state’s directions on who should be vaccinated next.

“So we are not in the position of making any discretionary decisions today as to whether to enter any particular categories of employees, such as teachers or staff,” Thompson said. “Right now, it is strictly a question of age and all eligible employees are being entered based on that criteria alone.”