Dear Colleagues,

Please read the following update regarding vaccines and field experience:

1. The VDOE announced this morning their guidance under school reopening indicates that student teachers should be included as essential workers in Phase 1B.

2. As of yesterday, I have reached out to all school divisions requesting that they accommodate our field experience students and supervisors if they have enough vaccines to do so.  I have heard back from many of our school divisions who do intend to include our student teachers.  A few of our local divisions may even include supervisors and/or practicum students if they have enough vaccine availability.  I am sending email contact information to those divisions for those candidates placed in these divisions and the candidates will be contacted directly by the school division.

3. A list of field experience students and university supervisors was sent to the University Health Center to register with VDH. Per the University Health Center:
Persons who are eligible for a vaccine will receive an email with information on how they can register. This email will come from VDH and/or CDC. It is important to note that this email may go to junk mail depending on the filters that are set up on the email account.
Here are links to other helpful information: If you are inquiring about the COVID-19 vaccine in our local area, please visit the Central Shenandoah Health District website<https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/central-shenandoah/covid-19-vaccine-information/>.  The Virginia Department of Health website<https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/covid-19-vaccine/> also has helpful information about when the vaccine may be available to you.

Please be aware that the primary limiting factor is the availability of vaccines.  It will take time to accommodate everyone in this Phase. As vaccines become available, either through a school division or through the VDH administration sites (e.g. the JMU's Convo will be one partner site for the state), students and supervisors will be notified.  Please be aware - Vaccines will not be administered through the University Health Center.

Please note that persons aged 65 and up have been elevated to Phase 1B across the state.  All other JMU personnel are included in Phase 1C.

Please contact me at [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> or Dean L'Esperance at [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> if you have any questions.

Best,
Dara

Dara Hall, Ph.D.
Executive Director of Teacher Education and Student Success
Education Support Center, Memorial Hall 7230/40
JMU College of Education
540-568-2996

From: Teacher-Ed
Sent: Friday, January 15, 2021 3:39 PM
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
Subject: Vaccines and Field Experience
Importance: High

Dear Colleagues,

The COVID-19 vaccine roll out process has led to many questions about whether our faculty and teacher candidates who are involved in field experiences will be permitted to get their vaccinations sooner, in phase 1b with teachers and school personnel.

Advocacy for this has occurred at multiple levels -  Dean L'Esperance is working with the University Health Center who is advocating for our faculty and students and our local VDH Vaccine Coordinator to elevate these persons to be vaccinated in phase 1B.  Concurrently, the Virginia Deans and Directors group in collaboration with VACTE are working with Dr. James Lane to request school divisions offer the vaccine to field experience students.  Some school divisions have already offered this possibility on their own, e.g. Fairfax is intending to vaccinate student teachers and Rockingham is doing a survey of practicum and student teachers to understand how many additional vaccines they would need and if they have capacity to offer this opportunity.

As we have more information, we will make sure you are informed.  In the interim, we are expecting our students to continue in field experiences in the same way they did in the fall.  The possibility of a vaccine has not changed any expectations for masking, social distancing, daily health checks and hygiene, and students will need to continue to abide by the same instructional modality as their cooperating teachers.

We are hopeful that we will have more information soon.  Please feel free to contact me at [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> or Dean L'Esperance at [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> with questions.

Best,
Dara

Dara Hall, Ph.D.
Executive Director of Teacher Education and Student Success
Education Support Center, Memorial Hall 7230/40
JMU College of Education
540-568-2996


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