The Sarasota County School District is partnering with the Florida Department of Health to get older school district employees to the front of the line for a COVID-19 vaccination.
On Sunday, all school district employees over the age of 65 are eligible to receive the vaccine at the newly opened vaccine distribution site at Sarasota Square Mall, indoors next to the former Sears building.
This vaccination opportunity is a one-day only event for those school employees who are eligible, running from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., due to scheduling demands and availability, district spokesman Craig Maniglia said.
All school employees age 65 or older are eligible. That includes instructional, administrative and support staff, along with charter school employees, substitute teachers and anyone who has taken leave for the year.
Laura Kingsley should be somewhere in the Polynesian Islands right now.
Two years ago, the Sarasota County School District chief academic officer and assistant superintendent had been planning the iconic cruise she and her husband would take to celebrate her retirement, originally planned for the summer of 2020.
The around-the-world trip would be a fitting end to a four-decade career in education, and Kingsley had assembled a three-inch thick binder of research on all the places she would visit.
But in November of 2019, former Superintendent Todd Bowden resigned, district leadership was in turmoil, and, in March, COVID-19 shut schools down for months. Kingsley knew she could not leave in the midst of such chaos, so she pushed it back a year.
Sarasota School Board urges governor to prioritize schools personnel
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the level of raises that School Resource Officers can receive.
The Sarasota County School Board is urging Gov. Ron DeSantis to include school personnel in the list of those receiving top priority for the COVID-19 vaccination.
The governor has prioritized senior citizens, with initial doses of the vaccine going to people age 65 and older, along with medical workers and nursing home residents.
While the district is working with the Department of Health to ensure that a small cadre of district employees who are in that age group get top priority, the School Board is asking state officials to expand that group of recipients to all school personnel, as supplies become available.
School districts on the Suncoast continuing emergency paid COVID leave for employees, to a degree Schools on the Suncoast saw a slight decrease in graduates. Statistics show an overall upward trend since 2014. (Source: wwsb) By Daniela Hurtado | January 13, 2021 at 7:30 PM EST - Updated January 13 at 7:30 PM
SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) -Local school districts have had to figure out backup plans after the federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act requiring them to cover COVID leave for employees exposed to the virus has now come to an end.
Despite the federal government no longer making it a requirement both school districts on the Suncoast have kept some form of emergency paid COVID leave. Sarasota County School District and Manatee County School District have different plans. Sarasota schools agreed months ago employees would have 20 COVID leave days to use if needed. District representatives say these days are for employees exposed to the virus or who have contracted the
A need for substitute teachers at Sarasota schools The state gave SCSD $7.8 million to increase teacher pay and starting salary. (Source: wwsb) By ABC7 Staff | January 10, 2021 at 5:02 PM EST - Updated January 10 at 5:02 PM
SARASOTA, Fla. (WWSB) -As the vaccine rolls out teachers associations across the Suncoast hope essential workers are next and that substitute teachers are included.
They say there’s a need for substitute teachers and this weekend the school district in Sarasota County asking registered substitutes to get on board for this week to fill spots this week. In an email to ABC7 on Sunday, the school districts’ human resources department said the district added an incentive for substitutes based on how frequently they help out.