OHIO — Gov. Mike DeWine said he wants to get kids back in school by March 1. He’s hoping vaccinations will spur that along. 

 

What You Need To Know

  • Logisitics of re-opening have already proven to be troublesome for districts, in addition to high COVID case counts in some areas

  • Districts could opt in for the vaccine, but could have trouble re-opening if not enough people needed to have school get vaccinated

  • There are educators and staff who are not able to get the vaccine, while there are others who for many reasons who won't get it right now

  • Students aren't eligible to get vaccinated right now and trials need to be done and that's a large part of the K-12 population

 

As it stands right now, if superintendents want to help their teachers and staff get vaccinated, they can — but not without a signed document and some strings attached.

“We’re asking them on behalf of their school to agree to be back in person, or hybrid by March 1. And as a condition. If they sign that, then we will be able to provide them," DeWine said.

While educators want to see schools open, the pre-condition is something some are concerned about. 

Although districts would have to provide the state with the number of personnel willing to take the vaccine, the reality is there are already a number who can’t take it, along with those who won’t take it. Shari Obrenski works with teachers in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. She said some aren't comfortable with taking it just yet. Others can't take for a number of reasons.

“We have members, you know, who are part of groups, particularly Black and brown people that have been not treated the same way as their white counterparts when it comes to health care in our country and vaccines and everything else, so we have that trepidation that is going to be something that we are going to have to address.”

So what happens if only half of a districts staff takes it, thereby jeopardizing their ability to re-open? No one knows. Then there’s the concerns about students getting vaccinated, too. As of right now, student's aren't eligible to get the vaccine.

"We thought that for some schools, this would make a difference. It would give them the ability to open the school. And we will be able to get kids back in the classroom. Some kids who have not been in the classroom the entire year," DeWine said.

Regardless, districts will have to make some tough decisions quickly. In the meantime, the Ohio Federation of Teachers President Melissa Cropper said the state will have to double down on districts following COVID-19 precautionary measures. Now that the quarantining guidance has been relaxed in order to keep schools open, Cropper said, “We just want to stress that the vaccine should not be the only thing that's being looked at, whenever we're looking at reopening schools we still think it's necessary for the sake of the students and community spread and for anyone who has not been vaccinated, that we have the mask wearing the safe distancing.”

DeWine said educators and other personnel should be able to start getting the vaccine February 1. The hope is that they could get the second dose by March 1.