The Hot Springs School District rolled out the first of its vaccination incentives this week, and Superintendent Stephanie Nehus says the response has been good overall, with up to 160 eligible students receiving the incentive and almost three-fourths of the staff showing proof of their vaccinations as of Wednesday.
The district announced the program late this summer, in which students, ages 12 and older, will receive a $100 Amazon gift card for showing proof of their COVID-19 vaccination shots. Each staff member completely vaccinated before Oct. 1 will receive a $200 incentive bonus.
"We are just now, this week, getting out the student incentives for the first time," Nehus said. "I ran the numbers this summer; We had about 1,600 students or so that fit that 12-and-above category. So that's a small percentage right now that we have that -- you know, maybe about 10% of our students -- have shared with us voluntarily that they are vaccinated to receive that incentive."
Although there are still a lot more gift cards to give out as the district made preparations for all 1,600 students, Nehus said the vaccinations have really taken off among the district's staff.
"Our staff incentive is going very well," she said. "I think I just looked at those numbers yesterday and we are up to, I want to say, 71 or 72% of our staff, are fully vaccinated. We have an additional 3 to 4% that are partially vaccinated, so they're just waiting to get that second dose. So I feel really good about those numbers. About 9% of our staff hasn't responded and shared that information with me."
According to Nehus, although sharing their vaccination status is voluntary, about 16% of the nearly 450 staff members have shared that they are not vaccinated. The district hopes to be able to add to those numbers following Friday's vaccination clinic at the Hot Springs High School, which was offered to the community as a whole in addition to the school district. Shortly after starting the clinic at noon, around 20 had taken advantage of the opportunity.
With the recent delta variant of the virus, Nehus noted they are seeing firsthand the difference it is causing in relation to its spread.
"You know, last year the primary concern was really our adults," she said. "And we really didn't have what we would call community spread in the schools. In fact, when we were kind of looking at our data, there was only one instance last year where we felt like one student might have picked it up from another student on a campus in our district. This year it's different and it's our younger students that we're seeing that challenge with. And so we are committed to following all of the requirements from the Arkansas Department of Health regarding the COVID-19 processes and procedures."
Though the delta variant spreads much quicker and easier, she said its ability to affect the younger students is the hardest. Last week the district had to quarantine five of its elementary classrooms across the district.
"Again, I want to stress that we do have a mask mandate in place and our teachers and our students and our parents, for the most part, are working very well together to ensure our students are coming with masks on," she said.
"And then we are constantly, throughout the day -- and I can say that because every building I've been in, you know -- if I see a student whose mask isn't fully covering the nose, I mean, we're constantly, the adults, are saying, 'Protect yourself and others; Get that mask on properly,'" Nehus said.
"And so we're reiterating that but the reality is children, third grade and below, they're young and that is more challenging. And so I applaud our teachers, I applaud our students, I applaud our parents, who understand the criticalness of this time and know that our kids need to be protected. And we're all just working together. But those classrooms we had to quarantine, you know, we just felt like for the safety of everyone, it was in the best interest."
Nehus said she "absolutely" agrees with the recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that says schools still offer a safe place for students as long as certain precautions are taken, noting her stance on kids being in school will not change.
"I feel like the best place for our kids is in classrooms learning here on site," she said. "And I do feel like we can do that in a safe manner. But I would continue -- because what we need right now most, is for families to keep their kids home that are unwell. You know, it's going to take -- for us to be able to provide that setting safely, keep students on-site and keep learning going -- we've got to have a partnership. It's got to be communitywide. And so we've got to make sure families keep their kids home when they're not well."
Nehus said she encourages anyone who has any questions regarding the district's guidelines, which are set by the Arkansas Health Department, to contact the school.
"Feel free to reach out to us," she said. "Mrs. Adriane Barnes is our district point of contact. She has a wealth of knowledge and expertise in this area at this point. You know, they can reach out to any of our buildings, school nurses, you know, we're all here to answer questions and to work together."