In an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19, PHS’s school nurses are working proactively with the Princeton Health Department to administer vaccines during school hours.

Board Member Deborah Bronfeld announced the plan at the January 26 Board of Education meeting for the Princeton Public Schools district. Currently, school nurses have administered vaccines for the Township from the Princeton Municipal building, which already held the necessary infrastructure such as the regular and ultra-cold freezers needed for the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, respectively.

Lisa Goldsmith, a school nurse coordinator who continues to be instrumental in the design of PHS’s COVID precautions, noted that the administration has acknowledged the additional risk that PHS nurses are taking on and are working to foster the safest possible working conditions.

“I’ve been working with administrators for the entire summer. I do know that no one wants anyone to get sick,” Goldsmith said.

Goldsmith is comfortable with doing her job for the school while simultaneously serving the Princeton Township community. However, while she believes that the general sentiment regarding the nurses’ assistance is positive, she knows that not all of her colleagues are as eager to help out and risk their health.

“Things don’t always go as planned. People are doing the best that they can. But this [generalization] may cause an uproar with my colleagues,” Goldsmith said.

In a letter to New Jersey Governor Murphy from the Superintendents of Mercer County, including Interim Superintendent Barry Galasso, Murphy was urged to expedite vaccine distribution to faculty, whose ability to teach and maintain what was deemed a “constant classroom” is dictated by their health.

Working with the Princeton Health Department, the Princeton Public Schools district is seeking to expedite vaccines for educators. However, this may prove difficult as vaccines are moved to more centralized locations and stricter regulations are put into place.

While the Biden administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Protection (CDC) listed frontline workers, such as teachers, as one of their priorities for vaccination, New Jersey teachers have yet to receive doses. Murphy has called for teachers to be “next in line” for the vaccine. Teachers represent a relatively small population group, numbering roughly 116,000 in the United States as of 2019.

Goldsmith remains optimistic but worries that the rollout may not happen as soon as some may hope.

“We as nurses would love to do that, to make sure all the teachers and staff who want to get [the vaccine] get it. But I don’t honestly see that happening too soon in the future. Federal efforts are currently centered around moving vaccines to bigger locations. I don’t think it will be in our school, anytime soon.”

In spite of that, Princeton Public Schools is looking to get vaccines to teachers as fast as possible, an instrumental step in the process of bringing students back into classrooms.

“I think that it’s great. If we could find a way to vaccinate teachers, they would feel safer. It’s not getting easier for anyone. Nerves are frayed, and people just want things to return to some sense of normalcy,” Goldsmith said.

In the meantime, Goldsmith wants to remind PHS students to continue social distancing protocols and to report online if they feel ill, with vaccines being far from rolling out.

“We all have contact tracing training. Students must [fill out the online form] if [they] are in the A or B cohort; that allows us to keep the community safe and healthy,” said Goldsmith.