MEDFORD, Ore. -- Medford School District superintendent Dr. Bret Champion says Medford schools have spent hours with local health officials to plan how COVID-19 vaccines would be distributed to educators.
“All the Jackson County school districts are willing to do anything in our power to use trucks and buses and space and people to move the vaccine forward,” Champion said.
He says a survey sent out to educators and other staff members resulted in 72% of people saying they would be willing to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Dr. Champion says this was more than other local schools and the logistics are squared away for the COVID-19 vaccine in the future.
A separate survey went out to families and staff regarding their comfort when it comes to reopening.
Dr. Champion found most people are comfortable with few concerns, “About 20 percent of our families said they were not comfortable with going into buildings and again that's just a first blush response that we've gotten from families we'll need to dive in whenever we know exactly what our plans are.”
Dr. Champion says once the districts plans are announced parents will have options, “For our younger grades, we're hoping that it will be a lot of in class time for our kids. As you get older probably more of a hybrid version.”
According to Dr. Champion families who opt for something other than hybrid learning would enroll students in the Medford Online Academy.
He says options like this are what complicate reopening schools but the district is working on organizing the necessary details to move K-12 learning forward.
