Pittsburgh Public Schools Could Start Vaccinating Teachers Next Week
By: KDKA-TV's Jessica Guay
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Pittsburgh Public Schools has a new timeline to vaccinate its employees.
The plan is to vaccinate all teachers and staff members, and the first round of vaccinations could happen as early as next week, though no final dates have been finalized.
The first phase will include PreK and elementary teachers, as well as special education and English language teachers. Leaders are working on fine-tuning the schedule, but they anticipate the first round of vaccinations will happen between March 10-13.
The district hopes to eventually vaccinate all of its 4,608 employees. Pittsburgh Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Anthony Hamlet says the district will start welcoming students back on April 6.
He says nearly 5,000 K-12 students who are not demonstrating progress with online learning, as well as kindergarten and PreK students, will return. He also said a majority of teachers will be in school that day.
Pittsburgh Public Schools will have more students returning on April 26. Hamley said he is "highly optimistic and excited" to welcome everyone back.
"We want to, in some form or fashion, get all of our students in a hybrid format, back into our schools so they see their peers but also be educated from their teachers in person. And we know that's the best place for our students to be. We're dealing with online and remote, but we want our students back in front of our teachers in our classrooms."
Pittsburgh Public Schools will have a clinic for teachers, but details are still being worked on.
Hamlet said vaccinations are not mandated, but employees who do not get vaccinated are still expected to report to work and follow protocols.
