By James Hanlon
Leader Staff Writer
Oxford Community Schools passed a resolution with Brandon School District formally requesting that “in-person educators and school staff members receive priority inoculation during Phase 1B of the Michigan COVID-19 Vaccination Plan.”
The school board passed the resolution 7-0 at its Jan. 12 meeting. It was sent directly to Oakland County Executive Dave Coulter’s office and Oakland Schools Superintendent, Wanda Cook-Robinson.
Oxford Superintendent Tim Throne said the purpose of the resolution was to encourage Oakland County Health Division to “do the right thing” by prioritizing the vaccines instead of opening it up to first come, first served.

“We were incredibly disappointed with the lack of planning for how Oakland County Health was to roll out whatever vaccines became available,” Throne said. “And what actually happened was other districts who have not been in-person at all, their districts found out about (how to sign up), it was leaked to them, they signed up, all the slots were filled, and our people never even had a chance to put their name down to get the vaccine.”
The resolution was signed by the both Oxford and Brandon school boards, superintendents and both district’s administrator, staff and teacher unions. It resolves, “The Parties hereby demand that the current status of a school district (in-person or virtual) determine the eligibility of its employees for vaccination in the county with priority given to the in-person school employees already working in school environments.”
“Here’s the issue,” said Oxford School Board President Tom Donnelly, “From the federal government down to the state government, we have heard that first responders will be first (to receive COVID-19 vaccines) – nurses, doctors, caregivers, all these important people, people who are face-to-face, putting themselves at risk, they will be first.”
Oxford and Brandon (along with Clawson) are the only school districts in the county that have continuously maintained an in-person option since the school year began. Donnelly said that since Oxford teachers and staff have been face-to-face since September, they should be considered essential, and that there was an expectation they would have access to the vaccine before it was opened up to the general population.
On Jan. 11, Michigan and Oakland County began vaccinating essential workers in Phase 1B as well as anyone age 65 and older. Phase 1B includes anyone 75 and older as well as police officers, first responders, and preK-12 teachers, staff and childcare providers. (Individuals age 65 to 74 are in Phase 1C Group A.)
According to Michigan COVID-19 Vaccination Interim Prioritization Guidance, Phase 1B, Group B consists of “Prioritized frontline workers whose work role has frequent or intense exposure, and, due to the nature of the work, are not able to maintain social distance.” Specifically listed are “pre-Kindergarten through high school teachers, support staff and child care workers who usually have direct contact with children.”
Trustee Dan D’Alessandro said, “This is by no means Oxford’s or Brandon’s interpretation that those teachers who are teaching virtually aren’t as important as those that are sitting face-to-face with students. However, here is the reality of it. If we are going to fight the virus the way our governor has asked us to, meaning we’re going to take a strategic approach and we’re going to vaccinate those that most need them, the elderly, first responders – although we’re not listed as first responders . . . logically one would think that teachers in a building that are face-to-face would be categorized as that.”
Throne pointed out that virtual teachers in Oxford still work in labs where virtual students have the ability to meet them in-person. “So I want to be clear when we say virtual teachers/in-person, we’re asking for all of our teachers (in Oxford) to have that ability (to be vaccinated) because even our virtual teachers

meet with students face-to-face.”
D’Alessandro added, “This is not a Democrat and a Republican thing, this is do what’s right for people who are in front of mass amounts of people. And I don’t know how anybody can argue with that. It just blows my mind we even have to pass a resolution for common sense.”
The resolution points out “the Brandon and Oxford districts pioneered in-person pandemic learning and will serve as model districts throughout the state as other districts return prior to March 1.”
Trustee Heather Shaffer said, “Oakland County should be supporting us. We’re the only two (districts) that everybody’s watching to see how it goes, and yet we’re not getting the support from the county. It’s disappointing.”

Donnelly and Throne argued that the county does not have to follow the state’s distribution guidance and it has the authority and ability to roll out the vaccine as it sees fit, citing Kent County as an example. “Every county health department has the freedom to create the distribution plan that they want,” Throne said.
Donnelly said the county can choose “to make sure that these three districts get taken care of first. And then, have a first come first served sign-up.”
Throne said the county health department has been communicating with them, but it has been after the fact. “They’re not asking for input. They’re not asking for best ideas of how to roll this out. They’re not asking for ideas of planning. They’re basically coming up with their own plan and then just communicating it. And in this case, basically communicating it to us after the fact, after the horse was let out of the barn. One district knew about it and they got the lion’s share of the first round of shots.”
Throne said Oakland Schools Supt. Wanda Cook-Robinson was sent copy of the resolution so she can help advocate for the district. She has been “asking for input and asking to play a role on our behalf and so she hasn’t done anything wrong, or Oakland Schools hasn’t done anything wrong. They’ve been asking to be a part of the conversation.”
The county executive’s office did not respond for request to comment.