Dear Educators,
As Interim Superintendent Dwight Jones shared with all team members last week, DPS is doing everything we can to make COVID-19 vaccines available to our school-based staff as soon as possible. We are pleased to share that the process to offer vaccines to some of our staff is underway.
On Friday, we notified about 1,000 school-based employees that because their position at DPS qualifies them under state guidelines, they are now eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. These positions include health care workers such as nurses, health technicians, occupational and physical therapists, and speech language pathologists, as well as some center-based program staff and Gilliam staff. If you received an email regarding your vaccine eligibility and have questions, please contact HR Connect at Connect_HumanResources@dpsk12.org or 720-423-3900.
We have been working hard to identify partners that have enough of the vaccine and the structures set up to deliver the vaccine. Children’s Hospital has been identified as one of the partners that will be supporting us in getting this first group of team members vaccinated as soon as possible, and they will be emailing eligible employees at their DPS email accounts with scheduling information this week.
Please note that available appointments may be during regular work hours. Please work with your school leader to ensure coverage during your appointment time. In addition, the vaccine is free to all team members, although you will need to provide your personal health insurance when setting up an appointment.
Staff members 70 years of age or older are also eligible to receive the vaccine and are encouraged to check with their personal health care provider to schedule a vaccine. Additional information on contacting providers can be found here.
As a reminder, DPS is not requiring team members to get the vaccine, because we know this is an individual and personal choice. Please also keep in mind that only a small percentage of staff members are eligible to receive the vaccine at this point; we will continue to open the process to more staff members as soon as the state and our health officials allow. We do know that teachers and other "frontline essential workers in education" are in the second group of Phase 1B and are expected to begin receiving vaccinations in early March, after the Phase 1B high-priority group has been vaccinated.
We will continue to share updates on the vaccine distribution process as they are available.
Many thanks,
Tamara and Mike
