At least three private schools in Los Angeles County have offered their teachers and other staff a way to get COVID-19 vaccinations during a time of limited supply – one school requesting them to use restricted access codes and two others confirming that their staff are responsible for health care-related duties.
The actions of the three schools – Alverno Heights Academy in Sierra Madre, Westmark School in Encino and Mirman School in Brentwood – are set out in emails from the school, meeting minutes and letters provided to The Times by various staff members at the schools.
The actions of the administrators to quickly ensure staff vaccinations during a time of very limited doses – a critical issue for all public and private campuses – show that some private schools were willing to interpret rules with confidence in their pursuit of students safely bring back employees to protect.
It also provides another example of the difficult choices that essential workers, people 65 and older, and educators are challenging for vaccinations available in California.
However, some staff spoke awkwardly with the instructions, saying that their journey to the front of the vaccination line had moved into an ethical gray area.
Administrators defended their assertive actions, saying they followed strict safety protocols in managing their campuses, while also helping employees find available opportunities to find vaccines within government guidelines.
“We believe that vaccinating teachers is a critical element in ensuring the well-being of our community,” Alverno Heights said in a statement. “To do this, we encouraged our employees to follow all applicable guidelines and get the vaccine as soon as it was able and there was vaccine stock available.”
Meanwhile, public school districts responsible for unions and elected school boards – and under greater public scrutiny – have mobilized with limited success for vaccines at state and local public health authorities. Health officials in LA County said school workers are generally not eligible for vaccines until March 1, when supplies will initially be much less than demand.
A look at an alternative, unauthorized route emerged this month when the Northridge Hospital Medical Center provided direct vaccinations to 14 private schools and day care centers, including Wesley School in North Hollywood, where a senior hospital manager child enrolled.
The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said these actions violated the vaccination guidelines.
There are also numerous examples of private schools that have apparently fully complied with the policies of the Department of Health.
When it became possible in October, all three schools brought back some or all of their youngest students within a few weeks – using exemptions allowed under state and provincial rules. And they also moved to open all elementary grades, which has been possible since February 16 due to declining coronavirus infection rates.
Alverno Heights and Westmark bring back a larger number of high school students.
Although the documentation indicates that the schools want all their employees to be vaccinated immediately, the schools should no longer be ordered. Administrators did not want to say how many employees were vaccinated.
All of the staff members who spoke to The Times asked for anonymity for fear of their work. Alverno Heights’ policy does not allow staff to speak to the media without permission.
An access code intended for vulnerable communities
For Alverno, an independent Catholic school, the pandemic struck at an inopportune time, as the venerable high school for girls was adding a program for boys and girls in kindergarten to eighth grade. High school tuition is not included $ 22,000 per year.
The pressure on a vaccine has been expressed in emails sent from senior administrators. An email from 18 February outlines various methods for staff members to secure vaccinations:
‘Option 1’ was to check myturn.ca.gov, the dating site and “tick the two boxes and your age group, select ‘Education & Child Care’, select Los Angeles County and enter the following accessibility code ‘LA2S5R9’. ‘
This specific code, which was active last week, and other codes were provided to community organizations to distribute in low-income communities particularly affected by the pandemic, said Darrel Ng, senior communications adviser to the state’s COVID-19 vaccine for vaccination, said. in an email reply to The Times.
But there was apparently a gap.
In a guideline given to ‘community partners’, a government official wrote that from 16 February, those eligible to use codes for appointments at a mass vaccination center in Cal State LA would be ‘education and child care workers’. include. It appears that the staff at Alverno and at least one other private school were able to make appointments.
However, the same guidelines also state: “The focus of these vaccination sites is to provide equitable access to safe, life-saving vaccines to California communities severely affected by COVID-19.”
One Alverno employee said: “I called the vaccination point to make an appointment and read the code to them and said, ‘Am I able to use this code? “And they said, ‘Oh, the code was given to community leaders in areas that were hit hard to use.’ ‘
The employee told The Times: ‘We are trying to find out what Jesus wants us to do, and Jesus does not want us to [to do this]. This is a morally wrong thing that goes against everything we stand for as a school. ‘
The Alverno administration did not want to answer questions about the use of the access code.
Two days later, on February 20, another senior administrator sent an email to staff indicating that appointments were available, provided they claimed a commitment to Long Beach. The city’s health department began offering appointments to local schools in late January – an example of the availability of rag vaccine that has frustrated school leaders in areas where their employees are not yet eligible.
“Many appointments have just been placed for the Cal State LA ride through the site,” the administrator said in the email. ‘I went to myturn.ca.gov and installed Long Beach as your country. You can enter all the right information, including age and education. ‘
A separate email also reminded staff to make sure they have a connection to Long Beach.
According to minutes of the meeting that The Times provided to the Times, it appeared at a Zoom staff meeting on February 3rd.
‘Please try to get an appointment. “If you have a QR code, they let people into Dodger Stadium and do not ask to see any job ID,” said principal Julia Fanara, according to the minutes, which outlined her comments. ‘However, it can not be considered ethical to jump in line to get the vaccine over a health worker. This is a decision you have to make yourself. ”
When the school received a copy of the minutes and e-mail, the school did not dispute its authenticity, but stated in a statement from Fanara that its role was to provide information to the staff and that vaccinations were not necessary. was not.
School workers’ health care duties
The Westmark School in Encino specializes in educating children in grades two to 12 who have been ‘clinically diagnosed with language-based learning disabilities’, said Claudia Koochek, principal of the school.
This tuition fee was $ 52,446 with a new student fee of $ 2,000.
In a 15-year statement reviewed by The Times, school leaders warned ‘faculty and staff’ that they had ‘drawn up a verification letter’ that would enable them to get vaccinated on the grounds that ‘you’ is an employee of Westmark School, and from time to time you may participate in health office activities. ”
According to the letter, these duties may include supervising the health office and taking temperature checks at the main gate. The letter also states that three staff members who presented the letter were vaccinated.
In a statement to The Times, Koochek said her employees are eligible for vaccinations because the school has a ‘health office’ and that any staff member working on campus has potential direct duties to keep everyone safe.
The school’s approach and the “documentation were reviewed and orally approved by vaccination officials,” Koochek said. He would not say who did the investigation or when.
“We took advantage of the opportunity made available according to the appointment system offered by various health organizations that offered appointments for the education / child care sector with a health office on campus,” she said. “We chose the option because we are a school with a health office.”
The Times communicated with four staff members who said the letter did not correctly describe their role or the role of most others at the school. They described the letter in various ways as inaccurate or unethical.
“Although I want to be vaccinated as soon as possible during the national distribution effort, I and many other collaborators I spoke to are morally opposed to leaving the line, especially if it is to be dishonest about our actual work,” he said. employee of Westmark said.
The Los Angeles County Office of Education said Thursday that before March 1, the exemption to have school staff vaccinated was now.
“School health office staff (nurses, medical assistants) are eligible to receive the vaccine during phase 1A as health workers,” said Margo Minecki, spokeswoman.
The Mirman School in Brentwood describes its niche as the ministry of gifted K-8 students, raising annual tuition from $ 34,000 to $ 38,000, with a new student fee of $ 2,250.
School leaders follow a rationale similar to that of Westmark in a January 20 communication with staff:
“Since you all work directly with students who may be contagious, and are the first in line in front of the health coordinator to help sick students, participate in daily health examinations while driving together and at the front gate, you fall under the current province’s guidelines for vaccinations. ”
The school provided a link to make appointments and a letter to whom it could be submitted, which staff members could submit, signed by the principal Dan Vorenberg:
“If a staff member works (insert name) full-time for Mirman and is directly responsible for all students while providing the necessary support to our Health Coordinator during the school day to support the delivery of health services to our student,” the letter reads in part. . “They are responsible for daily wellness examinations, respond first in case of a sick child, have direct exposure to potentially infectious children and are trained in protocols regarding Covid-19 response on campus.”
Ericka Dean, Mirman’s director of marketing and communications, said the school “feels wise to share this information with our staff because it is our duty to ensure their continued safety and the well-being of our families. . “
Times staff writers Laura J. Nelson and Julia Wick contributed to this report.