During a vaccination clinic held at Pevely Elementary School, Joel Farmer receives his COVID-19 shot from Farah Alhalabi.
Fox High School teacher and head basketball coach Mike Wilken receives his COVID- 19 vaccine from nurse Kelsey Schmidt at the Rickman Auditorium on March 19.
Rhonda Dobbs felt like she was part of something historic last week.
The 56-year-old librarian at Northwest R-1 School District’s Woodridge Middle School was one of more than 2,000 employees from Jefferson County schools to receive a COVID-19 vaccination during one of several drives held at area schools.
“It made me think about when the polio shot came out, and I wonder if people were feeling like that back then,” said Dobbs, who was one of 647 people to receive the first dose of the Moderna vaccine during a drive held at Rickman Auditorium on the Fox C-6 schools campus in Arnold.
Those who work in education had the opportunity to receive the Moderna vaccine on March 19 at Rickman, or they
could get the Pfizer vaccine on March 20 at either Dunklin R-5 School District’s Pevely Elementary School or R-1’s Northwest High School in Cedar Hill.
In addition, the Grandview R-2 and De Soto school districts held smaller drives. Grandview’s was held March 17 and De Soto’s was on March 19.
Dunklin communications director Matt Lichtenstein said 561 people were vaccinated at Pevely Elementary. Northwest School District Director of Health Services Ann Frankowski said 573 vaccinations were administered at the district’s high school, and Northwest was working to administer more of its 585 allotted shots on Monday.
The vaccinations were available to anyone who worked in education throughout the county, and the drive was arranged by the school districts, the Jefferson County Health Department, Pharmax Pharmacy, which has locations in Imperial and Festus, and the Medicine Shoppe in Pevely.
“We wanted to make it a collective effort to show a united approach in getting our school district employees who have been on the front line the entire time throughout Jefferson county schools,” said Fox Superintendent Nisha Patel, whose district has 1,977 employees, including substitute teachers. “Our staff has been very appreciative and are glad that the opportunity is available for them.”
Grandview Superintendent Matt Zoph said 110 employees received the vaccine during that school district’s drive, with Parkland Health Mart employees administering the vaccinations.
De Soto Superintendent Josh Isaacson said nearly 200 of the district’s approximately 400 employees received the vaccination during his district’s drive.
Missouri’s Phase 1B Tier 3 opened March 15, making the vaccination available to those who work in education, childcare, communications, information technology, transportation, water and wastewater systems, and other critical infrastructure fields.
While education employees older than 65 or who have certain health risks qualified in previous tiers for the vaccine, last weekend’s effort was the first drive aimed purely at those who work in schools, regardless of age or health conditions, county school officials said.
“This is my seventh year as superintendent at Grandview, and I feel like we have done a lot of good things,” Zoph said. “But I have received more ‘thank-yous’ in the last few weeks since we started vaccinations than in my entire career as a high school principal and superintendent. I think it is a sigh of relief.
“Hopefully, we are turning the corner. What the superintendents and schools did on Friday and Saturday is a big thing for this county. It is great the cooperation and work that everyone put in. We were included in the process, and it is impressive. I don’t think people realize the cooperation between schools to try to get through this.”
Dunklin Superintendent Clinton Freeman said communication directors at Dunklin (Lichtenstein), Fox (JP Prezzavento) and Northwest (Chuck McPherson) along with Dunklin administrative assistant Laura Campbell, who created the online sign-up for the drives at Rickman, Pevely Elementary and Northwest High, deserve a lot of credit for organizing the vaccination event.
School officials also praised volunteers from numerous county districts and area fire and ambulance districts for helping with the drives.
“We have been anticipating this, and for the superintendent group to work with local pharmacies and the Health Department to actually make it happen, is really exciting,” Northwest School District Superintendent Desi Kichhofer said. “We want our employees, students and families to feel safe in our buildings, and this is another step to make them feel safer and more comfortable in the learning environment.”
The Festus R-6 School District plans to hold a vaccination drive for its employees on Friday, said Kevin Pope, the district’s coordinator of communications and special projects. He said after that drive, the district anticipates that close to 250 of its more than 400 employees will have received the vaccination.
The drives
Mendy Fischer, a library media specialist for Dunklin, received her first dose of the vaccine at Pevely Elementary.
The 53-year-old Herculaneum resident said everything ran smoothly at the site and the process of receiving the shot was quick and easy.
“After going through a couple of checkpoints, I got to the cafeteria (where the vaccines were administered),” Fischer said. “It was very cool that all of our administrators where there, and I saw some of our nurses and Central Office staff. Everyone was very optimistic and pleasant.
“After getting my shot, I talked to two other ladies, and we were all excited that this was happening. It was awesome for the districts to do this and organize it for a lot of county teachers.”
Dobbs, who lives in Barnhart, said the vaccine drive at Rickman also was very organized.
She said her husband, Graham Dobbs, also received his first shot at the drive.
“The districts really stepped up to make this happen,” said Dobbs, who, like others vaccinated at the recent drives, will receive a second dose in about a month. “I am very grateful and appreciative. My husband and I were having a hard time finding a place to be vaccinated. They opened it to employees’ spouses. That was huge. I am very thankful for that.”
Lyndi Fuller, a sixth-grade earth science teacher at Dunklin’s Senn-Thomas Middle School, received her vaccination at Pevely Elementary.
“I would have to say I was surprised when I opened the communication that this involved a coalition between school districts,” Fuller said. “That was awesome to see that they have been working together. I am sure it took a lot of time and effort to organize this. It was pleasantly surprising to see it was a big coalition between many schools and communities.”
Closer to normal
The vaccination drives came just days after the one-year anniversary of schools shutting down last year to curb the spread of COVID-19.
“This Wednesday (March 17) a year ago, was our last day of school for that school year,” said Jefferson R-7 School District Superintendent Clint Johnston, whose district has 159 employees.
“It is exciting to think we will be able to finish this school year, and the vaccination plays a huge role in that,” Johnston said.
Patel, who received the vaccination at Rickman Auditorium, said the drive was another step toward schools returning to a sense of normalcy.
“This allows us to add yet another layer of mitigation for the full operation of schools in our county, which is much needed,” she said.
Windsor C-1 School District Superintendent Joel Holland, whose district has about 400 employees, said vaccination drives like these give him hope that school will function more traditionally during the 2021-2022 school year.
“I think we are getting back to some normalcy, and I think you will see that next school year,” Holland said.
“I think you will see schools back to five-day weeks. Next school year, I think you will see a year that more resembles ones that have happened in the past.”
