Will Educators Get Vaccine Priority?, Anxiety on the Rise, What CFOs Can Do About Diversity

(From American School & University and The 74 Million) A group of education organizations is asking for teachers and all school staff to be given priority access to new vaccines that are being developed to combat Covid-19. Giving such access to educators would enable schools to reopen more safely and help promote public confidence in a vaccine, according to the Learning First Alliance, a coalition of 11 organizations.

But as distribution draws closer, states are just now discovering when the initial doses might arrive, how many they might receive, and considering whether vaccinations will be mandatory. State representatives in Indiana and Kentucky, for instance, have signaled they will prioritize giving teachers the option of early COVID-19 vaccination. And though Florida’s governor has said vaccines won’t be mandatory in his state, school administrators are hoping that teachers will be included as ‘critical infrastructure’ workers approved for early vaccinate administration.

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(From Edsurge) While many schools delayed reopening in the fall to flesh out safety protocols, those new measures have done little to assuage the fears of teachers who are back on campus. An Illinois Education Association poll of over 1,300 members in October found that one-third had considered a career change this year. Sixty-nine percent feel it is “not very” or “not likely at all” that schools could safely reopen for full in-person learning in the spring. That’s despite most of the respondents reporting their schools have policies on safety measures like face coverings, social distancing and cleaning schedules. Many teachers report anxieties around class size and social distancing. In Houston, Texas, for example, some teachers have reported classes with more than 20 students and, depending on the age and size of the building, don’t have more than 3 feet between students.

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(From CFO) As diversity becomes a more significant performance metric for individual leaders and organizations, there is an opportunity for CFOs to incorporate diversity considerations into how they achieve financial and operational goals, according to John Touey, author and principle of Salveson Stetson Group Inc. Touey recommends several interventions to improve results in both recruitment and retention:

• Set the expectation that diversity hiring is a priority and then practice it in your own hiring decisions.
• Make a distinction between equity and equality; getting a new and valuable perspective to the table often takes precedence over having 15 years of experience versus 20.
• Focus on building long-term relationships with potential candidates; focus recruiting efforts all the time, not just when you have an opening.
• Invest in unconscious bias training with your team to ensure they are using inclusive management practices.
• Assess if the many diverse perspectives of the colleagues who work within your organization being fully accessed.

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