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O P I N I O N
THE SOAPBOX
Stand up. Speak up. It’s your turn.
We were shocked when we learned last week that New Hampshire is one of only two states that is not vaccinating teachers in Phase 1 of the vaccine rollout but moved members of the ski patrol to the front of the line. New Hampshire is already falling behind regionally when it comes to administering the COVID vaccine. Now, parents, teachers, and students are rightly concerned about the very real possibility that vaccination of teachers and educational assistants won’t begin until beyond March.
Monadnock Ledger-Transcript
Published: 1/27/2021 4:31:05 PM
The ConVal School Board is pushing to expedite COVID-19 vaccinations for teachers following Gov. Chris Sununu’s statement last week that “teachers don t provide emergency medical services and are not required to,” justifying their absence from Phase 1b of the state’s vaccine rollout.
While in theory that might be true, a lack of vaccines exacerbates the ongoing concern that schools could close for a lack of staffing throughout the pandemic, School Board Chair Rich Cahoon said. Francestown Elementary School closed for two weeks on Monday following a COVID-19 exposure, he said, underscoring the reality of the Board’s concerns.
We were shocked when we learned last week that New Hampshire is one of only two states that is not vaccinating teachers in Phase 1 of the vaccine rollout but moved members of the ski patrol to the front of the line.New Hampshire is already falling.
LETTER CIRCULATED BY NEA-NH. More than 300 current and former teachers, teachers, school staff members and elected officials have signed a letter to Gov. Chris Sununu asking that they be moved up to Phase 1B in the COVID-19 vaccination protocol. The letter was authored by state Rep. Patty Cornell of Manchester, a retired 36-year guidance counselor, and provided to New Hampshire Primary Source by NEA-New Hampshire. “Your administration’s decision not to include K-12 educators in Phase 1 of the vaccine rollout defies CDC guidelines, which say that Phase 1B of the vaccine rollout should prioritize frontline educators and also contradicts your public calls for schools to reopen,” the letter reads. “While this alone is cause for concern, we are concerned that you approved members of the ski patrol which do not fall under the definition of first responders according to state statute to receive the vaccine in Phase 1A ahead of educators. In addition, according to the Ski