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Meeting Date:
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Category:
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School and Community Relations |
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Type:
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Subject:
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ACPS 2025 Strategic Plan Goal:
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Goal 1: Systemic Alignment ACPS will build a culture of continuous improvement and design equitable systems for school and instructional improvement. Goal 2: Instructional Excellence ACPS will ensure that all students have access to and engagement with high-quality instruction. Goal 4: Strategic Resource Allocation ACPS will strategically provide differentiated resources and supports to schools and departments. Goal 5: Family and Community Engagement ACPS will ensure that all families and community members feel welcomed, respected, and valued.
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Funding Source or Fiscal Impact (where applicable):
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File Attachment:
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Agenda Item Summary:
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In partnership with the Alexandria PTA Council (PTAC), the Office of Community Partnerships & Engagement has launched a video-based COVID-19 vaccination awareness campaign that features personal testimonials of more than one dozen parents and guardians of fully-vaccinated ACPS elementary students. The campaign objectives are two-fold:
● Increase confidence in pediatric COVID-19 vaccines by providing culturally and linguistically appropriate materials.
● Increase COVID-19 vaccination participation rates among children aged 5–11.
Having access to accurate information about the COVID-19 vaccine is crucial to families who are still weighing the decision. Hearing facts that are reinforced by people they trust and can relate to -- like pediatricians, school staff and other parents – can help confirm to them the benefits of getting vaccinated. That is why ACPS families, dubbed “Vaccine Ambassadors,” are central to this effort.
In two-minute videos, each Vaccine Ambassador shares how they arrived at the decision to vaccinate their children against COVID-19 and details how they navigated misinformation, the benefits they experienced because of the vaccination and advice on finding reliable sources to resolve questions about the pediatric COVID-19 vaccine. Each video was recorded in the Vaccine Ambassador’s preferred language and captioned in at least one additional language to expand its reach. Video production included initial framing conversations with public health outreach workers with Alexandria Health Department and a final review for accuracy of content by the ACPS Department of Student Services & Equity.
The Vaccine Ambassadors’ messages are being shared widely by PTAC and ACPS across social media and communications channels, including the division-wide newsletter and multiple messaging platforms. Two messages will premiere each week starting this spring and continuing into the summer. The complete collection of videos is housed on the ACPS website. |
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Background:
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Vaccines play a critical role in helping to protect our community from COVID-19. They also help to keep students in classrooms with their peers and teachers by preventing interruptions to their learning. COVID-19 vaccination rates among our youngest students continue to trail significantly behind those of students ages 12-17. In fact, the percentage of children ages 5-11 in Alexandria City who have been fully vaccinated is 54.9% while 99.0% of children ages 12-17 in Alexandria City are fully vaccinated, according to the Virginia Department of Health.
Since vaccinations became available to school-age children, ACPS has employed various strategies to encourage families to get vaccinated when eligible in order to keep our schools, students and staff safe. The Vaccine Ambassadors campaign aligns with the recommendation of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention to connect with communities through trusted messengers in order to increase demand for COVID-19 vaccinations. |
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Recommendation
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The Superintendent recommends that the School Board review the information in this memo to become familiar with the campaign and how it supports our overall health and safety goals. |
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Approvals:
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Recommended By: |
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Signed By: |
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Julia Burgos - Chief of School and Community Relations |
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Signed By: |
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Dr. Gregory C. Hutchings, Jr. - Superintendent |
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