Will Caddo Teachers' Vaccinations End Virtual School?

Caddo Parish Superintendent of Schools Dr. Lamar Goree talks about the vaccination of teachers across the area and the effect those inoculations will have on the in-person school for the rest of the academic year.

Goree first talks about the move to, because of the effects of last week's storm, continue full-time virtual classes for all Caddo students. "We are still having issues with water. We are without water service at many of our schools," he begins noting that as the thaw continues, more and more broken pipes are found in a number of older buildings."

And he explains the reasoning behind the move to virtual. "(Monday) we did decide to go to a no-school day to give us an opportunity to assess everything on campus and give the city time to restore water service. But even as water is restored, we will still be under a water boiling alert...that will probably last throughout the week, It limits our ability to prepare food on the campuses."

And with the okay to begin widespread of teacher COVID vaccinations and school workers, Goree says he is excited, "We've already been communicating with our staff and...we're really looking to speed up the number of people we get vaccinated this week."

And what about ending virtual learning once vast majority of teachers are vaccinated? "We will have virtual school for the rest of this year," Goree says, "I even think as we go into next year we're going to have to have virtual just for the mere fact that children won't be vaccinated."

But if teachers are vaccinated and students, most of whom are asymptomatic, why the need for continued virtual? "I think you're still not going to get to 100% of (teachers) vaccinated. There are parents who will not feel comfortable sending their children until we know we're at some point of herd immunity. I will say that, as we build our models going into next year, so that it does provide the minimum level of stress on our teachers."