Newsom’s $2 billion plan to reopen California schools fizzles By Jill Tucker and Dustin Gardiner
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s widely touted $2 billion proposal to give California schools up to $750 per student to reopen by mid-February has stalled in Sacramento, with no timeline for when the money might be available.
While reopening schools remains a priority for Newsom, as well as national and state health officials, the plan is tied up in the Legislature, where elected officials have questioned whether it’s fair or logistically feasible to implement the stringent testing requirements of staff and students required in the proposal.
Legislators also criticized Newsom’s proposal, which required districts to submit a health and safety plan by Feb. 1, for not addressing vaccinations; some legislators said they don’t support reopening schools until teachers and support staff are vaccinated.
Controversy over Novato school superintendent getting vaccine at teacher event
By KTVU staff
Novato superintendent vaccine controversy.
NOVATO, Calif. - Some members of the Novato Unified School District are furious that the superintendent was given the coronavirus vaccine before teachers in the classrooms.
On Jan. 17, Supt. Kris Cosca was vaccinated at the Marin Civic Center at a vaccination event sponsored by the school district and the county, and, the vaccine was given to more than 1,200 school district staff, including food workers and bus drivers.
The vaccines were reserved for Tier 1 priority school workers, a category that includes custodians, food service workers, bus drivers and special education teachers. At the end of the day, when vaccines might get thrown out, anyone can get the doses.
Bay Area school superintendent gets vaccine before some teachers, angering staff
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A top administrator who received a COVID-19 vaccine before in-class teachers has left educators in Marin County fuming.
The vaccination event at Marin County Civic Center last week went well so well that everyone who showed up got their shot. This left 200 vaccine doses thawed and prepared, with no arms to inject, and if they didn t get used by 4.30 p.m., they would go to waste.
Two county agencies immediately sent out a mass notification to Office of Education staffers, and asked school district superintendents to notify their employees that surplus doses were available. One of those superintendents, Novato Unified School District s Kris Costa who does not work in a classroom traveled to the center and got his shot. This left many teachers and staffers angry and unvaccinated, reports the Marin Independent Journal.
Bay Area teachers face confusion over when they ll get vaccinated
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A large double rainbow fills the sky above teachers as they stand in line to receive their first COVID-19 vaccinations at the St. Helena Foundation vaccination clinic at Napa Valley College in St. Helena, Calif. on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2021. The St. Helena Hospital Foundation is working with local wineries, investors, and community health works to help distribute COVID-19 vaccines to members of the community, including teachers, the elderly and local Agriculture workers.Brittany Hosea-Small / Special to The Chronicle
Pushed to the front of the line, more than 1,000 Bay Area school workers received the coronavirus vaccine in recent days, but it could be weeks or months before additional teachers and staff get the shots, with the state now rethinking who should get them first.
MARIN, Calif. (KGO) Marin County began vaccinating teachers and school staff members on Sunday. Thousands received the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine. I feel so relieved and I feel grateful. It was an honor to get chosen to be one of the first group of teachers to get it, said Liz Duffield, Marin County Pre-K teacher.
On Sep. 8, Duffield went back to in-person teaching along with many of her colleagues in Marin County. She s been a teacher for 29 years. Part of the motivation for me for going back was because as hard as we tried, we weren t meeting the needs the way that we could in person, said Duffield.