OCPS staff added to vaccination priority list

The Department of Health started administering the shots Sunday at the Orange County Convention Center to those 65 and older.

By Amy Quesinberry
| 3:00 p.m. January 25, 2021

West Orange Times & Observer
News

Close to 1,000 of the more than 25,000 employees with Orange County Public Schools were authorized to get vaccinated for COVID-19 starting Sunday, Jan. 24. These employees are age 65 or older and include all teachers, paraprofessionals and other people in direct contact with students.

OCPS Superintendent Barbara Jenkins wrote a letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis in December asking him to include on the list of priority groups all K-12 essential school district employees who are in direct contact with students (instructional, classified and administrative).

“Access to the vaccines for this group would permit school districts to continue providing quality instruction for students as well as critical support services to our most vulnerable families,” Jenkins wrote.

author

Amy Quesinberry

Community Editor Amy Quesinberry was born at the old West Orange Memorial Hospital and raised in Winter Garden. Aside from earning her journalism degree from the University of Georgia, she hasn’t strayed too far from her hometown and her three-mile bubble. She grew up reading The Winter Garden Times and knew in the eighth grade she wanted to write for her community newspaper. She has been part of the writing and editing team since 1990.