MASHPEE As of Monday afternoon, 132 staff members of Mashpee Public Schools had signed up to receive their vaccine through the Mashpee Wampanoag Health Service Unit, which is collaborating with the district to help protect school employees from COVID-19.
The Mashpee Wampanoag Health Service Unit, which is the local arm of the federal Indian Health Service agency, will host a Zoom educational session about the vaccine for all teachers working in Mashpee Public Schools. The unit will then hold a drive-thru vaccination clinic, scheduled for March 19, said Nelson Andrews Jr., director of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s emergency management department.
“It’s meant a lot to our teachers,” said Mashpee superintendent Patricia DeBoer, who finalized plans for the vaccinations over the weekend. “Not just our teachers, but the whole staff.”
Teacher Brittany Jenney says her in-person classes are typically just a handful of students. The rest attend online. (Courtesy)
Just after Thanksgiving, Falmouth High School Principal Mary Gans got a call: the school had a positive case. Twelve of her staff members were considered “close contacts” and had to quarantine immediately. I just [did] not have the ability to cover all of their classes, even for the rest of the day, Gans said. There just weren’t the bodies that we could pull to satisfy that kind of puzzle.
Substitute teachers are very hard to come by this year, so the school decided to go fully remote for a week. The hybrid model is back up and running at Falmouth High School, but Gans said having enough teachers is an ongoing challenge.