Dear Team DPS,
These last few weeks have been incredibly heartening as we continue our vaccination efforts for staff. This past Saturday, more than 1,000 educators received their COVID-19 vaccine at Denver Health’s mass vaccination clinic. I am incredibly grateful to the team at Denver Health, who provided a quick and seamless experience for our educators, and who have served as our trusted advisors on the changing health conditions throughout the pandemic. Thanks to their partnership, we’ve been able to safely open schools since early January, and the vaccine rollout puts us in a better position to remain open for in-person learning. Check out this video from Saturday’s clinic.
To date, we’ve been able to offer vaccines to all staff who have indicated they want a vaccine thanks to our partnerships with Children’s Hospital Colorado and Denver Health. I’m also thankful to Governor Polis, for recognizing the need for our educators to have access to a vaccine and moving them further up the line in the vaccine schedule.
It’s been wonderful to see so many educators take this next step toward keeping our schools, students, staff and community safer -- and in helping us to safely continue in-person learning. I witnessed a great deal of joy and gratitude this past Saturday, and heard from a number of educators over the last few weeks who have shared with me what this vaccine means to them. Many of us feel a collective sense of relief on what has been a long and stressful journey since last spring. Many thanks to our community for remaining resilient, courageous and unwavering in your commitment to our students, despite the myriad challenges we have faced.
We will continue to offer vaccine appointments to staff who have indicated that they want one, with the goal of offering vaccines to all staff by spring break. For any team member who was previously undecided or who did not have a chance to respond to our initial survey, please let us know if you are ready to receive the vaccine by reaching out to HR_Connect@dpsk12.org with this template. Our teams will continue to work to ensure that any educator who wants a vaccine is able to get one.
Sincerely,
Dwight Jones
Interim Superintendent
Check out these other news clips of the Saturday event:
