SHAWANO, WI-Shawano School District faculty will be getting their first chance to receive the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine Thursday.
The Shawano School District received an olive branch from the Stockbridge-Munsee tribe who continues the process of vaccinating the community.
“We continue to work with different levels of government agencies to be able to do this, but I think it was our demonstration of being able to vaccinate a large number of people in a consistent way that led to us being able to get more and more vaccinations available to us,” said Tribal President Shannon Holsey.
She said with the available vaccinations, they are able to vaccinate all Shawano School staff who are interested.
“We use a number of 330 for the number of staff employed and we have 205 who are interested in getting vaccinated, so we are pushing 80 percent,” said Shawano Superintendent Randi Anderson. “We are thrilled for the opportunity to continue to strive to keep our staff in our buildings. To be able to vaccinate a large number of our staff in a single day is wonderful.”
To make this happen, the Shawano School District will be all virtual learning for all students on Thursday and Friday of this week.
“With 200 staff members getting the vaccine, it is impossible for us to ensure that many subs that day to make sure that we can support our students,” Anderson said.
Those who have expressed interest will go the Northstar Mohican Casino Resort to receive their first dose on Thursday.
“This is called the primary shot and it is 28-30 days before they get their booster shot,” Holsey said. The vaccination that they are distributing is the Moderna.
Anderson added that they will put in a process for staff to receive their second dose as well.
“We will know on Thursday when we get our next date. It could fall in the middle of Spring Break which would be awesome, but if we have to make adjustments we will.”
As part of a partnership with the Stockbridge Munsee Tribe. Superintendent Randi Anderson said they were informed by the tribe that vaccines were available and they moved quickly on it.
“We have a staff member who is a tribal member and they were able to make the connection happen and we moved fast on it. It is an amazing opportunity for us,” she said. “We have reached out for partnerships in the area including Thedacare, Prevea, Belin and County Health and we were just fortunate that the tribe was able to make this happen as quickly as they did.”
The tribe said they also have worked with Bowler, Gresham, and Wittenberg-Birnamwood School Districts and have been approached by the Bonduel School District and parochial schools.
“When we think about our community, schools are part of that definition,” Holsey said. “We not only have students that are enrolled in the Shawano School District, but we also have teachers who teach and we are one of the largest employers so that outreach extends.”
Tribal officials say it is part of helping their community.
“We are thrilled to have a great opportunity to continue to ensure that our staff is able to stay in our buildings and serve our students,” said Anderson. “With continued masking, physical distancing, hand washing, and now 80 percent of our staff vaccinated by the end of March, we will be in a position to be able to stay open.”
LISTEN TO SUPERINTENDENT RANDI ANDERSON TALK ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY
LISTEN TO STOCKBRIDGE-MUNSEE PRESIDENT SHANNON HOLSEY TALK ABOUT THE PROCESS
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