‘Vaccine is going make a big difference’: DeKalb County teachers, administrators prepare for COVID-19 vaccine

While DeKalb County’s four largest school districts won’t require their staff to get the COVID-19 vaccine, and educators likely won’t get their first dose for at least another month, many local teachers are expressing hope at the vaccine’s promise ahead of some classrooms reopening next week.

“I think the vaccine is going to make a big difference,” said Jen McCormick, president of the Sycamore Education Association. “I think teachers are torn between love of their job and working with students and health.”

Deetra Sallis isn’t sure what kind of response the COVID-19 vaccine will get among teachers in her district when it is made available in late February or early March. But the DeKalb School District 428 human resources director said if the response of those eligible to get it early is any indication, it’s going to be well-received.

The nursing staffs at districts across the county were eligible to receive shots under Phase 1a, the group designated by the phased federal vaccine rollout which includes health care workers, first responders and nursing home staffs and residents. Occupational therapists, physical therapists, counselors and similar roles will be vaccinated later this week.

“However the groups that have been able to take it, they’ve been quickly signing up to get appointment times to do so,” Sallis said.

Group 1a is receiving their vaccines and teachers are in group 1b, which is slated to get their first vaccine dose in late February or early March.

In November, at the recommendation of the DeKalb County Health Department, school districts returned to a full remote learning model to combat the fall surge of COVID-19 cases. That model is set to expire on Tuesday, meaning many students will return to classrooms for the first time since November.

All districts in DeKalb County are slated to return to either hybrid or complete in-person plans Tuesday, excluding District 428, which announced this week remote learning would continue “until further notice.”

Mary Lynn Buckner, co-president of the DeKalb Classroom Teachers Association, said that she wouldn’t mind any return to in-person schooling be put on hold until the vaccine is available.

She said that she was speaking for herself and the union has had little input on any of the district’s return plans.

“My personal opinion is at this point we may as well wait for the vaccine,” Buckner said. “My understanding is the end of February is when hopefully, if everything goes as planned, teaching staff can be expected to receive a vaccine if they’re interested in it.”

Making Plans

At the Sycamore School District 427 board meeting on Tuesday, superintendent Steve Wilder presented a loose timetable of what the rest of the year might look like, starting with the Jan. 19 return to the classroom in a hybrid schedule for all students.

Elementary students in the district were in person for just beyond two weeks in November before the adaptive pause hit because of case resurgence. At one point in November, Sycamore school district reported more than 575 students and staff in quarantine because of possible virus exposure, and over 50 cases. Sycamore middle and high school students have not been to school in-person since March.

Wilder said there’s also a possibility that any in-person learning may need to be paused to allow for teachers to recover from any side effects of the vaccine, should they arise.

According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, some people may experience side effects, which are a part of the normal immune response to a vaccine. The majority of the side effects, while not seen in every individual, are signs that your body is recognizing the vaccine and mounting an immune response. Based on prior studies, side effects may include pain, redness and swelling at the site of the injection, fatigue, headache, muscle pain, chills, joint pain, fever, nausea, malaise and swollen lymph nodes. These symptoms may occur within two days after the shot and last 1 to 2 days. Side effects may be more frequent after the second shot (booster) and less frequent among older adults. Long-term side effects are unknown, although most vaccines do not have long-term side effects, although vaccine studies remain ongoing, according to the IDPH.

“It’s very likely we’ll need to institute remote learning on a temporary basis, whether that’s a week or a couple days, to allow our staff to be vaccinated, recover from any side effects and then get back to the hybrid model,” Wilder said. “We’ll probably have to do that twice – once for the first dose and again for the second dose.”

Wilder said that if all goes well, in-person classes could run from the end of spring break until the end of the school year, June 4, uninterrupted.

McCormick said one of the big things she would like to see is a consistent set of metrics used to determine whether school should be in person or not. She said the SEA developed a set and is being used by DeKalb but not its own district of Sycamore.

She also said she agreed with professional groups that call for statewide metrics.

“This way as a state we know when to go in and out, instead of relying on districts or school board choices,” McCormick said. “Which DeKalb, by the way, uses a set of clear metrics that the Sycamore Education Association put together but we don’t use in our own town.”

In the end, she said, the vaccine is another tool to get back safely into the classroom, which she said is the end goal.

“This is the thing, teachers miss their work,” McCormick said. “They’re working so hard but they miss their work with kids. There’s no right answers in this time. Every solution isn’t always a good one. Across the country, everyone is trying different things, trying to find what might work best, and it’s just so challenging to be able to find the best solution to have a teacher reach a student and be safe at the same time. There just isn’t a winning ticket for this right now. And I think this vaccine, in education, we’re looking at the vaccine as a way to bring quality, in-person education back for our students.”

A 50-50 split

Paula Kennedy, the technology and curriculum director at Indian Creek school district in Shabbona, said she’s gotten the feeling that the district is split on the vaccine.

“Some people are very comforted by the vaccine and others are worried about the safety of the first round of a vaccine,” Kennedy said. “I say our school is about 50-50 down the middle.”

Kennedy said the district is on track for a return to the classroom Tuesday. As before the pause, elementary and middle school students will attend five days a week fulltime in-person, while the high school is on a hybrid schedule.

She said precautions the district have been taking, including social distancing and pre-certifications, have been effective in Shabbona.

Kennedy said a big cause of concern for teachers regarding the vaccine is, from what she’s seen, a skepticism of being in the first group to receive a new drug.

“For me it tends to be our younger staff are a little more worried about it just because there could be issues,” Kennedy said. “You look at what are the benefits, pros and cons, and it tends to be more benefits for older people. It’s worth the minimal risk. Where some of our younger faculty that do not have any underlying issues, they are not feeling it’s worth that risk yet. They’re wanting everyone else to figure out how this vaccine is going to work. That’s what I’m seeing, anyway.”

10 miles can make a difference

Genoa-Kingston Superintendent Brent O’Daniell said from what he’s heard in conversation with staff, there exists a general approval of the vaccine.

“It seems like most of the people I have spoken with in the district are ready to be vaccinated,” O’Daniell said. “I’m sure there are some who are not but the people I have talked to are interested in getting the vaccine. It would make them feel much safer if they had it.”

Like the other districts, O’Daniell said there will be no mandate to take the vaccine. He said opinions on it can vary wildly, even within the county itself.

“I’ve seen the data, I’m not going to go far into the data, but it’s really regional, and I mean regional like within the county regional, of the interest level of taking the vaccine,” O’Daniell said. “It’s crazy how 10 miles can make a difference.”

Getting the vaccine

DeKalb and Sycamore have plans in place with the DeKalb County Health Department to be vaccine distribution sites for staff members.

Wilder said the MOU with the health department actually was signed before the pandemic began, and was a precautionary action that ended up paying off.

O’Daniell said Genoa-Kingston would be willing to do the same thing.

“We told them we would be willing to do that if they wanted to,” O’Daniell said. “I think they are still finalizing some other things. They have some sites they want to use in different regions and I don’t know if they’ve established one in the northern part of the county yet. … We’re willing to have that conversation when they want to.”

Kennedy said it would work out for Indian Creek as well.

“[The regional education office] is hoping to get an area in each part of the county is what we’re hearing,” Kennedy said. “But we haven’t heard that they’ve chosen a site. We would be open to that for sure.”