HCPS Vaccinates Teachers and Staff
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Vol. LXVIII, No. IV Douglas Southall Freeman High School March 2021 HCPS Vaccinates Teachers andPHOTO: HENRICO Staff COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS The vaccination center located at Richmond International Raceway, buzzing with socially-distanced activity. cinating staff, the county had to our personal lives on hold to start it took about 60 school nurses of those extra things that happened Jack Harenchar demonstrate that it had the capac- to create, troubleshoot, fine tune, three weeks to distribute the first to fall right into the timeline,” said Staff Writer ity to efficiently and effectively and communicate a signup pro- dose. Mrs. Gilbert. vaccinate people en masse. Hen- cess,” said Mr. Jenks. “When I heard we were getting Through a partnership with the rico partnered with Goochland “The process was a little con- he county the vaccine, I felt like I had won counties of Goochland, Hanover, County, Hanover County, and the fusing as we all waited and waited T the lottery of sorts,” said Ms. Hun- and the City of Richmond, Henri- City of Richmond for the injec- for an email that didn’t come in was proactive in nicutt. “So much of my fear and co County Public Schools (HCPS) tions, as well as the Richmond the stated time frame,” said Eng- helping us through stress over being in the building began vaccinating its employees Raceway Complex for a vaccina- lish teacher Wiley Hunnicutt. “For the“ process.” fell away.” against COVID-19 in late January. tion location and Westwood Phar- a while, I believe we were wor- Mr. Podolny, on the other hand, As Henrico County entered macy as a supplier and for storage. ried that if we missed the email, - Wiley Hunnicutt said that “It felt like a non-event, Phase 1b of its vaccination pro- In that manner, the counties as a we would miss the opportunity to because of how much longer a gram, schoolteachers and staff, whole were able to receive a vac- get vaccinated,” she said. How- Math teacher Derek Podolny path we have to vaccinate the along with first responders, people cine allotment. ever, according to Ms. Hunnicutt, called the process of receiving the majority of the population.” This aged 65 and older, and other front- “With strength in numbers we “Once the email confusion was vaccine “very efficient,” noting being said, he noted how proud line essential workers became eli- were able to get the attention of cleared up, the county was proac- that the process was structured to gible to receive the vaccine. state and federal suppliers,” said tive in helping us through the pro- ensure distancing between those HCPS Chief of Communications cess.” being vaccinated and that there The atmo- Andy Jenks. He added that “in After they knew who was inter- was diligence in verifying paper- sphere at the vac- Preparing for partnering with the right people ested in a vaccine, HCPS took care work. cination center is and being able to demonstrate that to schedule the staff to avoid “a Ms. Hunnicutt said that receiving overwhelmingly“ Vaccine we [can] get thousands of people situation where it’s first come first the vaccine, in her experience, was through [the vaccine process], not serve and everybody lines up out “flawlessly executed.” positive.” Distribution just HCPS employees, but other the door, and stands outside for six “The atmosphere at the vacci- - Laurel West government folks and school em- hours,” said Mr. Jenks. nation center is overwhelmingly On Jan. 12, six days after the ployees in Hanover, Goochland, The county had a considerable positive,” said school nurse Laurel HCPS decision to go forward with and Richmond … we were able scheduling task on their hands as West. “At the vaccination table we he was of the “health care profes- the proposed return to in-person to set up the process to make that “over 60 percent of our staff ... have seen tears of relief and heard sionals and planners for getting the learning dates, Superintendent of happen.” have elected to get [the vaccine],” so many words of gratitude.” long road started.” Schools Amy Cashwell announced With a vaccine allotment, venue, said Robin Gilbert, Henrico’s As school staff had not always Principal John Marshall be- that the county would postpone the and partners for the process, “the School Health Services Supervi- been included in Virginia’s Phase lieves that the vaccine will boost transition back to the classroom next question [was], how do you sor. 1b vaccination plan, the HCPS re- the staffs’ confidence in returning for those who chose to return. get as many people vaccinated turn to in-person learning plan was to the school building. Between Because the HCPS vaccination as quickly as possible,” said Mr. not contingent on the vaccinations. vaccinations and the county’s ex- plan included using school nurses Jenks. “That’s when the light bulb Distributing the “While we all have great con- tensive mitigation procedures, Mr. as vaccinators, “having schools goes off that we have [school] fidence in the mitigating interven- Marshall said that “we are ready” with no nurses present would re- nurses who can assist.” Vaccine tions and processes that we have in for students to return. sult in staffing levels that won’t While nurses went through train- place right now, this was just one meet our expectations for imple- ing, the HCPS central office dealt On Jan. 20, HCPS began the menting the HCPS COVID-19 with the logistics of polling inter- long-awaited process of distribut- Health Plan for larger numbers est in vaccination and the sub- ing the vaccine. Working Wednes- of students,’’ said Superintendent sequent scheduling. “During the days, Thursdays, and Fridays to Cashwell in her Jan. 12 update. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday vaccinate over 6,000 school staff As soon as HCPS learned that weekend … a lot of us had to put who elected to receive the vaccine, it could begin the process of vac- Freeman Celebrates Black History Month teacher Erica Beard. “In so many Christina Kanu, founder of Chris- Annabelle Glassman different situations, [teachers] tina Kanu Consulting in Atlanta, Staff Writer take students into the auditorium Ga., Jericia Johnson, a licensed and the teachers put [a program] therapist with a private practice February marked the 45th an- on.” This year, “it’s really dif- ferent” because “you have 16, nual celebration of Black History t’s important Month. This year, Freeman stu- 17, 18-year-old students who are I dents and teachers honored and making this for their peers,” she that we don’t stall celebrated the month by tuning said. our progress.” in to the weekly speakers, eating The Henrico County Public “ - Bella Fowler delicious food from Black-owned Schools Black Student Union de- restaurants around the Richmond veloped a bingo board this year area, visiting historical sites, and that includes historic locations, in Chesterfield, Va, Brenda Foun- learning more about Black his- Black-owned businesses and res- tain Coffey and Chaldea Fountain tory, both locally and nationally. taurants, and famous statues lo- Montague, two of the first Black cated around the Richmond area students to attend Freeman, and to celebrate Black History Month. Special K, a spoken word poet. Speakers includ- Additionally, to celebrate Black Junior Bella Fowler tuned in on ed... two of the History Month, Wednesday’s Feb. 4 to see Christina Kanu, and Freeman Focus, which is typical- on Feb. 17 to see Brenda Foun- first Black students ly used for Wellness Wednesday tain Coffey and Chaldea Fountain to attend Freeman. lessons, was repurposed. Black Montague. “Their messages were speakers from a variety of back- applicable [to Freeman],” she “[The Freeman Black Student grounds and jobs were invited to said. The meaning of these speak- Union] has created this amazing speak about their experiences and ers to Freeman, said Bella, is that PHOTO: BLACK STUDENT UNION program that’s student-led, which viewers were given the opportu- “it’s important that we don’t stall makes it different,” said Spanish nity to ask questions through a our progress.” The bingo board developed by the BSU included historical Google Form. Speakers included sites and Black-owned businesses for students to visit. Visit Follow dsfcommentator.org @DSF_Commentator to check out the for news and latest online articles! updates! 2 News DSF Sports Streaming Live Tube channel must reach 1,000 Maddie Cassidy subscribers in order to be able to Staff Writer livestream events on smartphones and other mobile devices. Fortu- nately, the DSF Student Activities Every high school in the Henrico channel has more than 1,000 sub- County Public Schools (HCPS) scribers at this point. system has created its own “The county is trying to be very YouTube channel to stream its helpful with set up and assistance,” sporting events in an effort to give said Freeman Student Activities the maximum number of people Director Suzanne Criswell. “Right the ability to watch these events. now the hold up is with YouTube This media expansion is in itself – getting the channel and de- accordance with Virginia Gov. vice ‘accepted.’ There are so many Ralph Northam’s Executive Order trying to do this setup that there is 72. The order states that each a backlog.” player is allowed to invite two Another challenge is that guests to outdoor sporting events YouTube channels only allow and that indoor sporting events are for one livestream at a time. This limited to 25 guests per field. The conflicts with the Freeman sports order heavily affects the Freeman schedule, which often has multiple community, since Freeman has teams playing simultaneously. Ms. PHOTO: YOUTUBE a high spectator turnout at many Criswell said, “Our schedules are sports events.