Schools fight back Cover / Schools fight back
In Saline County, pharmacists collaborated to vaccinate teachers and staff at five area school districts in an effort to defeat the virus and get back to normal By Steve Brawner Editor
John Goff says it’s hard to teach math to Bryant Junior High students virtually. He needs to see their faces and their sheets of paper when they’re working a problem. Full-time sub Amy DeVito has already had COVID but wants her fellow teachers to be vaccinated to protect her third-grade daughter. And Bryant High offensive line and wrestling coach Shane Clancy is simply “ready to ditch the mask and just be normal.” All three didn’t hesitate to be vaccinated at a pair of events organized by local pharmacies for Saline County-area schools: Bryant, Benton, Bauxite and Harmony Grove, along with nearby Glen Rose in Hot Spring County. About 1,200 school employees received their second shots Feb. 13 at the River Center gymnasium after receiving their first shots Jan. 23. The events were administered by a collaboration of six area pharmacies who worked with the Department of Health and the Saline County Office of Emergency Management to coordinate the event. Each pharmacy was assigned a different school district, with two in charge of Bryant, the largest district with the most participants. School employees were given the vaccine manufactured by Pfizer and BioNTech. “We’re actually really close anyways,” said Jon Martin, owner of Bryant Family Pharmacy. “We all work together on a lot of different projects. So when the state moved to [Phase] 1-B and said the educators would fall into 1-B, we all pooled together all of our resources, went together, started working as a team, as a group, to coordinate this event.” Martin was the contact with the Bryant School District because he already had a good relationship with the superin20 March 2021 Report Card
JOhn goff, a math teacher at Bryant Junior High School, gets vaccinated for COVID-19 at the Benton Riverside Park Feb. 13. Local pharmacies collaborated to organize two events for five Saline and Hot Spring County schools.
tendent, Dr. Karen Walters. He asked her what she thought about a countywide effort. She helped coordinate the event with the other school districts. Martin said big events make it easier to vaccinate a lot of people. The first event on Jan. 23 lasted all day with no hiccups, but the second event was accomplished in half a day. Recipients were screened at the door. After the shot, they were asked to sit for 15 minutes for observations. Martin estimated that he has administered 300-500 shots since the pandemic began, and his pharmacy has administered thousands. Some people have been sick afterwards for a few hours, some for a day or so, and some had no reaction at all. He personally had a sore arm after his first shot and, after the second, a sore arm along with a fever that lasted a few days. “Nobody’s had any serious reactions,” he said. “We’ve had a couple of people that had responses to getting the shot – to actually getting the shot, anxiety related, but nobody’s had anything related to the vaccination itself.” Walters was pleased with how the events have gone.
“I don’t think it could go any better,” she said. “Things are so smooth. There’s no wait. I told Jon that Governor Hutchinson needs to ask him what it would cost for him to run every clinic in the state of Arkansas because Jon, he’s got it down to a well-oiled machine.” Walters said her school district sent emails to staff and provided information from the Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The district has recommended employees be vaccinated but has not required it. She estimated that close to 70% of the staff had chosen to get vaccinated, with teachers probably closer to 77% and classified staff in the lower 60s. Administrators made it clear there would be no repercussions for those who declined to be vaccinated. However, Walters has told staff that current leave policy will last only through June 30. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released guidance saying employees who have been vaccinated do not have to be quarantined after a close contact if they show no symptoms, and Bryant could incorporate that guidance into next year’s policies.
