Two days after three Cobb school board members asked Gov. Brian Kemp for teachers and school staff to be placed in a higher priority group for receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, the Cobb school superintendent has done the same.
Chris Ragsdale signed a letter sent Tuesday by metro Atlanta superintendents to request that teachers and other school employees be added to the 1A category—the highest in the tiered vaccination system being rolled out by the Georgia Department of Public Health.
“The longer we delay in vaccinating our teachers and school staff, the more we risk having to close our doors once again,” the superintendents wrote in the letter, which you can read in full here. “The educators in our districts have given tirelessly in time, effort, and dedication, especially during the pandemic; we ask you to recognize their value and importance to our communities and our state.”
The other superintendents signing the letter include those from the Atlanta, DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett and Marietta school districts.
Three teachers in the Cobb school district have died from COVID since Christmas, including two on Thursday. The same day, the Cobb school board met but was silent on the matter, despite hearing emotional pleas from protesting teachers to go to all-remote instruction.
Ragsdale briefly mentioned the dead teachers by name but did not discuss COVID response, and when a board member tried to ask him about it, he was cut off by the chairman.
In a release sent out by the Cobb County School District Wednesday, Ragsdale said that “I, along with other superintendents, have been advocating for our employees with decision-makers for some time now. The letter was simply a culmination of our efforts to get access to the vaccine for educators. We all understand the most extreme hurdle for us to overcome is the quantity of vaccine available to be administered.”
Vaccine recipients in the 1A category include frontline medical and health-care workers and residents of long-term care facilities.
This is the third week that people in the 1A+ category—first responders and citizens age 65 and older—have been able to get vaccinations.
But the supplies have been severely limited and many older people have expressed frustrations with an online appointment booking website that has crashed, or that shows no vaccination slots available.
Cobb and Douglas Public Health is vaccinating around 700 people a day, six days a week and is asking for public patience as they try to get more vaccine supplies.
In Georgia, only 80,000 vaccines are being distributed a week to around 2,000 public and private providers.
On Tuesday, Kemp announced the state will be getting an additional 25,000 vaccine doses a week from the federal government.
Kemp spokesman Cody Hall issued a message via Twitter later Tuesday saying there is “a simple math problem” and said there isn’t enough vaccine for 400,000 teachers.
“These superintendents should explain which currently eligible population should be, in their view, sent to the back of the line for vaccination. Seniors? Healthcare workers? First responders and law enforcement?
“The Governor has repeatedly stated—as recently as today—that as soon as Georgia begins to receive increased vaccine supply, teachers and school staff will absolutely be included in any expanded criteria.”
The Cobb school district release said that the school system “would continue to offer choice for as long as it was feasible.”
Nearly two-thirds of Cobb’s 107,000 enrolled students are attending class in person for the spring semester that began Jan. 6. Last week, students worked remotely due to high COVID case numbers and students and staff being out due to quarantine.
Classes resumed in-person Monday. The district has said there would be another period for parents to choose face-to-face or remote instruction for the rest of the spring semester, but it has not announced when that will be.
Related Content
- Cobb school board members ask Kemp for safety measures
- Editor’s Note: The haunting silence of the Cobb school board
- After teacher deaths, Cobb schools begged to stay remote
- Sedalia Park ES paraprofessional dies of COVID
- Cobb schools go remote week of Jan. 18
- McCleskey MS, Simpson MS to finish week fully remote
- 66 percent of Cobb students choose face-to-face for spring
- 21 active cases of COVID-19 reported at McCleskey MS
- Cobb school board elects officers for 2021
- Cobb schools return amid COVID concerns, teacher’s death
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Is the Cobb County Superintendent elected or hired? I find his silence arrogant & irresponsible with so many lives at risk under his watch. This includes: students, teachers, support staff and volunteers. Families and community members may contract Covid as a result of those exposed to in class school. He also needs to set an example and protect others by wearing a mask. Failure to do so is arrogant and shows lack of concern for others.