Lakewood Schools Offer Teachers, Staff A Shot At Vaccinations

LAKEWOOD, NJ – As educators around New Jersey begin to become vaccinated less than a week after President Joe Biden referred to educators as “essential workers”, Lakewood Public Schools has seen 350 teachers and other staff members sign up for vaccinations without having to register for appointments through the state.

Lakewood is only one of two New Jersey school districts to offer staff members, teachers and other workers the opportunity to get vaccinated without having to go through the normal registration process, district spokesman Michael Inzelbuch told Patch on Monday. Jersey City Public Schools is the only other district in the state to offer the service.

The 350 staff members to sign up has taken place since Friday afternoon and is in addition to more than 200 district employees who have already received the vaccine because they are considered at-risk, Inzelbuch said. The number also does not include the number who will go through their private medical providers to get the vaccine.

The vaccinations are taking place after Gov. Phil Murphy bumped teachers up in line on the vaccination priority list over the weekend. Murphy had previously set that educators would be eligible to begin receiving shots on March 15.

"You can't just say, 'OK, how many teachers are there in the state, and say that that's the group that's coming online,'" Murphy said. "There are a lot of teachers like a lot of us who have some chronic condition who are already eligible and in many cases have been vaccinated."

The vaccines will be administered between 2:30-10 p.m. on March 15 for any staff member who signs up through the superintendent. The voluntary shots of the Moderna vaccine will be administered in the high school gymnasium and are available to any staff member or employee including teachers, substitutes, custodians, paraprofessionals and others.

The vaccinations come at a time when Lakewood schools has been open for in-person learning since last summer. About 90 percent of students attend classes in person, Inzelbuch said. Staff members can sign up for the vaccinations by filling out the form that was sent out by Superintendent Laura Winters. The announcement of the vaccinations comes a week after eight staff members in the district tested positive for the coronavirus. Most of the cases were reported at Ella G. Clarke Elementary School.

“Our staff here in Lakewood are heroes,” Inzelbuch told Patch on Monday. “They’ve been coming to work since July and September — we don’t want them to go waiting in lines like you see on the news…but (they can get shots without) the pressure, the tension, the anxiety of getting on the website (and registering).

"They deserve everything and this is just another thing the board and the district is doing for our cherished staff.”