Fox Chapel Area teachers will be scheduled for a covid-19 vaccination as early as this week, school officials announced Monday.

At the same time, the school board voted to return middle school and high school students to full-time, in-person education beginning March 15.

“Personnel may begin to receive invitations (for vaccination) as early as tonight,” Superintendent Mary Catherine Reljac said.

A clinic will be hosted at the Allegheny Intermediate Unit beginning Thursday, after Gov. Tom Wolf announced last week that educators and school staff would be prioritized for the newly distributed Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

The single-dose shot will ensure that teachers are largely ready to return to the classroom this month.

Allegheny County received 7,400 doses for about 18,000 people, Reljac said, but additional clinic dates will be made available as more doses come in.

“We hope to be getting everyone through within the next six weeks,” she said.

The Allegheny Intermediate Unit said it will coordinate with the Pennsylvania National Guard and AMI Expeditionary Healthcare, LLC, to oversee site operations, including scheduling and vaccine administration.

School staff and contracted employees such as bus drivers were issued a survey within the last week to determine whether they have already been vaccinated or if they want to receive the shot.

The district’s technology team, along with human resources, processed the results and submitted the file to the state so that appointments could begin being scheduled.

“We had little warning that it would happen this quickly,” Reljac said.

“We want to thank the school community in advance for your flexibility as we may (have issues) that interrupt our instructional day. We don’t anticipate a great interruption but we don’t know because it is a massive undertaking.”

As a last resort, the district might need to shift to virtual learning on some days but Reljac is hopeful that won’t be the case, she said.

With district cases of covid-19 their lowest since October, administration believes it is safe for students to return to the buildings, Reljac said.

Online learning will continue to be offered. Staff and students will still be expected to follow mitigation strategies.

Elementary students returned to full-time, in-person instruction in November.

Board member Ron Frank said “with the decrease in cases and the vaccine coming, it is time to be back in school.”

Fellow board member Amy Cooper urged district families to be mindful of mask-wearing and social distancing, saying the success of being back in school is going to depend on what students and community members do outside of the buildings.

Jeremy Bennett, president of the Fox Chapel Educators Association, said that while the first round of vaccines won’t cover all district employees, the 237 allocated is a positive start.

He also said parents can rest assured that online learning won’t suffer because of the option to return to class.

“As we return to a five-day model, our teachers will continue to provide a high-quality educational experience to not only our in-person students but also our virtual students on a daily basis.”

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)