Some Arizona educators are hoping the arrival of COVID-19 vaccinations marks the beginning of the end of the pandemic.
That scenario can’t come soon enough for the residents of Hayden and Winkelman.
The small neighboring eastern Arizona towns have been pummeled by the coronavirus, with the school district’s enrollment now down to about 300 students from 520 a few decades ago, the Arizona Republic reported.
The towns’ residents have continued to lose neighbors since the pandemic began, and everyone knows someone who died, according to the teachers and school staff members getting vaccinated.
In a place where the Hayden-Winkelman Unified School district is the heart of the community, everybody knew Kimberley Lopez Chavez Byrd, who taught several generations of students.
Byrd died in June after battling COVID-19 on a ventilator. She’d taught virtual summer school in the same classroom with two other teachers, who also became infected with the virus.
The Republic said Byrd’s photo still hangs at the entrance of the Leonor Hambly School, where she taught first grade.
In the months since Byrd died, grief over the educator and others has only felt more acute to those who survived.
A retired Hayden-Winkelman teacher recently died, and Frank Martinez, a man who used to wave to school staffers, died last month.
“The count of how many people I know that were affected or had the virus — I lost count at 12,” Miloni Patel, a public health nurse, told the Republic.
Like many other Arizona school districts, Hayden-Winkelman students have gone to school online since the pandemic initially closed schools in March.
Because the community has been battered by COVID-19, teachers said they’ve heard few protests about the decision to remain closed to in-person learning. But the work of educating children continues.
Hayden-Winkelman teachers trained to teach online for a month straight in the summer, District Superintendent Jeff Gregorich said.
The district also is planning more intervention for struggling students, including summer school. Educators felt prepared for the job of remote teaching but are worried about their students.
The first dose of the vaccine sets a path back to in-person learning, which will not resume until teachers receive the second dose and likely until community transmission rates decline.
“I’m just glad to see the beginning of the end,” Gregorich said after getting his shot.
Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
