Fulton Board Of Education Discusses Vaccine Clinics, Changes In Student Instruction This Semester

FULTON – The Fulton City School District Board of Education met virtually last night, January 26, where they discussed the COVID-19 vaccination and changes the district will be making this semester. 

 

Christopher Ells, the district’s COVID-19 coordinator and athletics director, said the district played host to three different COVID-19 vaccination clinics within the past few weeks, and about 1,600 people were vaccinated. 

 

“It was a great opportunity for our staff and our community to be able to get vaccinated right here on site,” Ells said. “They have planned and rescheduled the second dose for the same timeframe, so we’re looking at the 13th, 15th and the 20th and that’s going to be right back at our high school again.”

 

Ells clarified that although the district hosted the clinics, they are not FCSD-only clinics and are not reserved just for staff or community members within the city. They are clinics through the Oswego County Department of Health and the vaccination site goes on the state website.

 

“This does go out to everybody in New York state,” Ells said. “We had people driving from all over the place last weekend because we have it and other counties don’t.” 

 

In a survey sent to 687 district staff members, of the 450 who have responded so far, 60% said they have either been vaccinated already or have a scheduled appointment, according to Geri Geitner.

 

Ells said once there are more vaccine doses available to local pharmacies, they plan to organize a clinic more reserved for district staff.

 

In regards to cases within the district, Ells emphasized the importance that students and staff stay home if they experience any of the COVID-19 symptoms.

 

The district will be making some adjustments for the second semester. Daniel Carroll and the school principals presented these changes to the board.

 

GRB High School:

• Dismissal will now be at 1:15 p.m. Class periods will remain at 42 minutes each.
• Interactive instruction for both in-person and remote students will be four days. At-home students will join their in-person peers via live stream.
• Student schedules Tuesday through Friday will be consistent for both in-person and remote students.

 

Junior High School:

• Four days of interactive instruction for both in-person and remote students.
• Teachers of complementary core and elective subjects will team up – for example, English and Social Studies, Math and Science, and Art and Music. 
• There will be more opportunities for students to talk with their teachers during office hours. TA’s will also have office hours to work with students.

 

Elementary Schools:

• After an analysis of mid-year benchmark data, students’ needs will be addressed individually. 
• There will be 15 minutes added to the students’ instructional day.
• Implementing instructional design models that support differentiation in hybrid environments. 

 

Also in the meeting, the board gave a monthly finance report and discussed the budget for next year. Later in the meeting, Ells gave an update on athletics and the winter sports and fall two seasons. 

 

The full meeting can be viewed here and the agenda for the meeting can be found here. The next meeting will be a Budget Committee meeting February 2 and there will be a regular meeting February 9. Meetings are live streamed on the Fulton Communications YouTube channel.

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