Will these vaccine, testing projects help Fresno-area schools reopen — and stay open?

As pressure to reopen schools mounts, school districts in the central San Joaquin Valley are attempting to help speed up the process by becoming vaccination sites, partnering with local health clinics, and ramping up COVID-19 testing for students and teachers on campuses.

The faster COVID-19 cases decrease, the sooner schools can reopen or phase more students back to campuses. Some school districts decided to wait until cases start to decline significantly before sending students back to campuses, and others have been offering in-person learning part-time since the end of last year.

The Clovis Unified School District has applied to become a designated vaccination site and, if approved, the district will be able to vaccinate all of its employees and community members. More than 3,000 Clovis employees have said they want to be vaccinated, about 630 don’t want the vaccine, and about 2,000 did not reply to the survey, Clovis Unified Deputy Superintendent Norm Anderson said.

Anderson said the district wanted to phase in more students earlier this year, but “the reality was case rates went up, and we heard (from employees) if the vaccine became available, it would alleviate the anxiety of returning.”

About 13,000 Clovis Unified students are on campuses, and almost all staff are back at school sites or in district offices. On Friday, the district announced it would be sending middle and high school students back to campuses the week of Feb. 22.

Some Clovis Unified teachers have been vocal about their opposition to returning to campuses while coronavirus cases continued to climb and Fresno County was under the most restrictive guidelines, according to the state’s color-coded Blueprint for a Safer Economy. There’s been talk among teachers to unionize.

“There is a nervousness and anxiety,” Anderson said. “There are some (teachers) who don’t worry about the vaccine. Then, on the opposite end of the spectrum, some say we shouldn’t go back until they get the vaccine.”

In the next month or two, educators could start to receive the vaccine. Fresno County health officials have struggled with vaccine shortages, and priority has been given to health care workers and the elderly.

However, some eligible Clovis Unified employees and teachers have received the vaccine, Anderson said, like nurses, practitioners, psychologists, therapists, and teachers working in-person with students in special education classes where the work is more hands-on.

It’s more challenging to follow social distancing guidelines for teachers who work with students in special education, said Michelle Hill Kusch, a special education teacher at Woods Elementary School in Clovis. She works with students in all grade levels who have mild disabilities, learning disabilities, and students who have autism.

“It was really scary for a lot of us educators who are in there trying to work with kids (in-person),” she said. “Navigating that with parents is difficult because they want the intervention they want the person, but they don’t want their kids to get possibly infected.”

Hill-Kusch has been working in-person with students since November and received the first dose of the vaccine at the end of last month.

“Our kids come from different classes at different times,” Hill-Kusch said. “I may be pulling a kid out of one group and into another. Some cross-contamination can happen. We’re not with the same kids and same people all the time.”

Unfortunately, Hill-Kusch said, she tested positive for COVID-19 just days after receiving the first vaccine dose because her husband was exposed and brought it home.

“My whole family has it, including my 15-year-old daughter, and she is super sick, vomiting cramps, and whole nine yards,” she said. “I’d much rather have the vaccine than experiencing COVID.”

CDC says teacher vaccinations recommended, not required for reopening

On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control released new guidelines to reopen schools that said, in part, while all teachers should get vaccinated, full immunization shouldn’t be a requirement for reopening.

Fresno-area school officials said local teachers could begin receiving shots in early March,if the county’s vaccination supply stabalizes.

The U.S. Department of Education also released a handbook to help guide schools on reopening safely.

What are other Fresno school districts doing?

At the end of the month, the Fresno Unified School District will be using Gaston Middle School as a community vaccination site, spokesperson Amy Idsvoog said in an email to The Bee’s Education Lab.

Fresno Unified employees aren’t required to receive the vaccine but are encouraged by the district, Idsvoog said.

“Being the largest employer on the valley floor, Fresno Unified recognizes how we respond to this ongoing pandemic has significant impact on our larger community,” Idsvoog said. “That is exactly why, in collaboration with our labor partners, we have developed a comprehensive plan for safely returning to in-person instruction when Fresno County has reached the orange/moderate tier.”

The Central Unified School District has partnered with United Health Centers to use the parking lot of Central High School’s east campus as a vaccination site, officials said. There are 893 teachers and staff who are interested in receiving the vaccine.

Efforts to reopen schools through COVID-19 testing

The California Endowment has put together a pilot program at nine school districts in the Valley, Los Angeles, and Bay Area in an effort to reopen schools. The method? Rapid testing.

“The pilot is the perfect compromised approach that will protect teachers and students,” said Dr. Tony Iton, senior vice president for programs and partnerships at the endowment.” If you do these tests frequently enough, it can eliminate and reduce the risk of an outbreak in school.”

Twice a week, everybody at the school site is tested for COVID-19 and receives results within 15 minutes, Iton said. McSwain Union Elementary School District in Merced County began the pilot on Jan. 4. Planada Elementary School District and Weaver Union School District will also participate in the pilot.

“In theory, this will work, and there’s no reason it wouldn’t work,” Iton said.” By testing twice a week or every third day, what we expect to find and have found is some people who got infected in the community, we haven’t found evidence of spread within the school facility.”

The pilot programs last 12 weeks, Iton said, which gives them enough time to gather data. However, the endowment has committed to supporting these school districts for the rest of the school year. Participating in the pilot program is free for school districts, he said, and the hope is that districts can continue to implement it after this school year.

There are funds coming into school districts from the state that could be utilized for rapid COVID-19 tests, Iton said, which are about $5 apiece.

The endowment sought out school districts with high populations of African American and Latino students, Iton said, who typically have parents who are essential workers. These communities have also been hit harder by the coronavirus.

“Economic consequence to the community has been dramatic,” he said. Education impact with Black and brown kids on the wrong end of digital divide further compound inequity and harm. We got folks, essential workers, who are undocumented and not eligible for relief. It’s a crisis upon a crisis upon a crisis upon a crisis for some of these families, and we’re trying to do something about it.”

The Education Lab is a local journalism initiative that highlights education issues critical to the advancement of the San Joaquin Valley. It is funded by donors. Learn about The Bee’s Education Lab on our website.

This story was originally published February 16, 2021 at 5:00 AM.