Over 750 Oconee County Schools faculty and staff members received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine earlier today – Mon., March 8 – at the Piedmont Oconee Health Campus. This was a teacher workday and the first day that Gov. Brian Kemp expanded the list of those eligible for vaccines to include K-12 employees.

“We are deeply appreciative of our partnerships with the Piedmont Oconee Health Campus and the Oconee County Health Department,” said Dr. Jason L. Branch, superintendent of Oconee County Schools. “Working together, around 800 educators have been vaccinated, which is a tremendous response. We will continue utilizing our shared resources to help Keep Oconee Open and our community safe.”

OCS educators will receive the second dose of their vaccines on Fri., April 2 at the Piedmont Oconee Health Campus. The Board of Education unanimously voted at their Mon., March 8 regular meeting that April 2 will now be a student holiday/teacher workday. OCS exceeds the state’s minimum seat-time requirements and students will not have to make up that day of school.

“Piedmont Athens Regional and Oconee County Schools have a long-term relationship of working together to make our communities better,” said Delena Brockmann, executive director of operations at Piedmont Athens Regional. “It was my honor to work with the school system to get their educators vaccinated on the first day possible. Our Piedmont Oconee Health Campus team is excited to have provided this service to our educators.”

In addition, the school system partnered in January with the Oconee County Health Department to help connect staff members 65+ with the COVID-19 vaccine. Through that partnership, over 50 staff members were vaccinated – after being directly contacted by the health department to offer vaccine appointments.

“The Oconee County Health Department has worked closely with Oconee County Schools to identify teachers and school staff over the age of 65 and provide them with vaccination opportunities,” said Miranda Bieber, county nurse manager. “The Health Department will continue working with the school system to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 through contact tracing efforts and additional vaccination opportunities.”