Kansas sending extra vaccine doses for teachers, staff to help reopen schools
In an effort to expedite K-12 school openings, Kansas will make extra vaccine doses available to teachers and staff, Gov. Laura Kelly announced Wednesday.
The doses will come in addition to the vaccine already allocated to each county. Schools will also receive free rapid testing supplies.
“The emphasis on vaccinating k-12 teachers and staff, the free testing supplies, along with continued adherence to other mitigation strategies will allow us to bring students safely back in person,” Kelly said.
Though thousands of teachers have already been innoculated in Kansas’ second phase of vaccinations, the additional doses should speed up the process.
In Missouri, Gov. Mike Parson and the health department have faced criticism because the state has not yet begun vaccinating teachers.
Kelly’s move comes after months of pressure from Kansas Republicans to reopen schools.
Last week, Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican, introduced a bill requiring Kansas Schools to offer full in-person instruction to students by March 26.
In a statement Wednesday morning, the Kansas GOP called on Kelly to “figure out how to get every Kansas student back in school. “
Kelly said Wednesday she hoped her plan would help some schools reopen even before the March 26 date suggested by Masterson.
“We all know that this has not been a good situation that kids are losing learning time and that parents are being driven nuts by having their kids home,” Kelly said. “I’m very enthusiastic about getting this program running and over so we can get our schools open full time, all the time.”
The plan, Kelly said, is only possible because of additional doses from the federal government. Next week, she said, Kansas will receive 115,000 doses of the vaccine.
Several Kansas schools are already operating in person or moving in that direction.
The Spring Hill and De Soto districts allowed secondary students to return to in-person learning, five days a week, this month.
In Olathe, all students will be allowed in classrooms full-time for the first time this school year starting on March 1. And in Blue Valley, all students will return to classrooms five days a week on March 23.
Kansas City, Kansas, schools plan to begin phasing students back into class next month.
The Star’s Sarah Ritter contributed to this report.
This story was originally published February 17, 2021 at 5:30 PM with the headline "Kansas sending extra vaccine doses for teachers, staff to help reopen schools."
