TAKE FIVE!

May 11, 2021

Amanda Langseder:
Hi, I’m Amanda. Welcome to Sullivan 180 Presents…Take Five! Our guest today is Dr. Bob Dufour, Superintendent and CEO of Sullivan BOCES. Welcome Bob, and thank you so much for being here today. Can you please introduce yourself and just tell us a little bit more about your role at BOCES?

Dr. Bob Dufour:
Sure. My name is Bob Dufour. I’m the District Superintendent and CEO of Sullivan BOSES. As the CEO of Sullivan BOCES, I oversee the day-to-day operations of Sullivan County BOCES. And as the district superintendent, I serve as the Commissioner’s Representative in Sullivan County.

Amanda Langseder:
What is the biggest barrier right now to fully reopening schools in Sullivan County?

Dr. Bob Dufour:
Truthfully there is an issue with an inconsistency with the guidance coming out of Albany and coming from the federal government: the federal government’s guidance is a little bit more liberal. It takes the state a number of weeks to review new federal guidance and then to issue their own interpretation of that guidance. The guidance issued by the New York State Department of Health is binding on all of the school districts, and the most recent issue was the reduction, by the CDC, from six foot social distancing in schools to three foot in certain circumstances, and the state’s interpretation of that. In elementary schools, they can reduce the space between students to three feet, yet they still need to stay six feet apart in the cafeteria. So those numbers just don’t work out unless the kids eat in their classrooms. And at the high school level, we’re required to maintain six feet if we’re in a red zone. And as far as the CDC and DOH concerns, Sullivan County is in a red zone. Our school districts are doing their best.

Amanda Langseder:
How do you think the rest of Sullivan County will be positively impacted, if we are able to get more people vaccinated?

Dr. Bob Dufour:
The more people that get vaccinated, the more quickly we can return to what we want to return to. Just in the schools, as the vaccine started rolling out, we have over 1400 educational workers that we were able to work with public health to get vaccinated in the past 10 weeks. Now, when we have an exposure in one of our schools, it’s nice to see that we don’t have to quarantine 10, 15 or 20 staff members, because they’re already fully vaccinated, which means we can quarantine the impacted students and keep our doors open and keep teaching. So it’s having a very positive impact. If we want to go to a concert at Bethel woods, people need to be vaccinated. It’s important, it’s a choice. And I understand that it’s a choice, but the more people that get vaccinated, the more quickly we’re going to get back to what people want to get back to. And the big thing that our schools are looking forward to is our end of year Celebrations and Graduations. And if our students want to have as normal a graduation as possible, the best bet is for the students to tell their parents, “I need to do this”. And the parents need to do this.

Amanda Langseder:
Absolutely. How can we get more students vaccinated, and not only vaccinated, but educated about the vaccine?

Dr. Bob Dufour:
Well, our schools are doing the best that they can. And so is public health. And right now we’re running a campaign, over the next two weeks. In cooperation with Public Health, Garnet Medical Center, and the Sullivan County COVID Task Force, we have established four clinics over the next two weeks, and we’ve tried to break them down geographically. We’re trying to get out to as many corners of the County as possible. And these clinics are geared towards getting our 16 and 17 year old students vaccinated: basically our juniors and seniors who would be participating in these end of year ceremonies and graduations. And we’re encouraging their parents because the parents have to bring them to the sites to sign the permission slips, to get them vaccinated. And we’re encouraging our parents to get their shot while they’re there too. So we’re trying to make it easy. We’re getting out into the four different corners of the community. We’re running a clinic for Monticello, Eldred and Fallsburg on May 11th. We’re running a clinic for Livingston Manor and Roscoe on May 14th. We’re running a clinic for Sullivan West on May 17th, and we’re running a clinic for Liberty and Tri-Valley on May 21st. All of the clinics will be scheduled after school from 3:00 PM to 7:00 PM. They will be using the Pfizer vaccine. Pfizer is the only vaccine approved for 16 and 17 year olds. And through the coordination efforts of Garnet Medical Center and Public Health, these dates were set so that the second dose, and that’s when a individual is considered fully vaccinated, will be administered so there will be a two week window for those individuals to be considered fully vaccinated before the graduation ceremonies at the end of the year.

Amanda Langseder:
That’s fantastic. Where can people find more information about those four school-based vaccine clinics?

Dr. Bob Dufour:
People can go to their local school district’s website. They can go to the Sullivan BOCES website. I know they can go to Sullivan 180’s website. They can go to the county’s website. The links to the clinics are posted on all the websites. Our school districts have posted it on their websites, pushed it out on their social media platforms. They’re sending robo calls home. My staff is outside my door because I have almost 500 students from all over the county at BOCES, and were stuffing backpacks with flyers, in addition to the robocalls and everything else to get as much information out to our parents as possible. And if the individuals don’t have access to the internet, they can call (845) 295-4097. And if they leave their name, their phone number and the name of their school districts, somebody will contact them and we will make arrangements to get them registered and tell them when their appointments are.

Amanda Langseder:
Anything else that you would like to share about these upcoming school-based vaccine clinics.

Dr. Bob Dufour:
Do it for your kids, do it for yourself. They’re entitled. They’ve worked hard. They’re entitled to their normal end of year ceremonies. And this is the only way the school districts can bring it to them. I know many of us are planning outdoor our ceremonies. Our ceremonies are going to be held at Bethel Woods. There are other school districts that are doing it. We’re doing everything to provide a safe, memorable ceremony because these kids, especially the kids graduating this year, they’ve worked so hard under such adverse circumstances. They deserve this and we deserve to give it to them. And if we can get the 16 and 17 year olds vaccinated and we can get the parents to get vaccinated. We understand not everyone’s going to want it, and that’s okay and it’s understandable, but we want to get as many of them vaccinated by affording them the opportunity to make that decision. And that’s the goal of this campaign.

Amanda Langseder:
Fantastic. Thank you so much for joining us today, Bob. The County truly is a healthier place because of all the work that you’re doing with ‘Empowering a Healthier Generation’ and education on these life-saving vaccines. So thank you for what you’re doing and wishing you all the best. Let’s get lots of people out to those vaccine clinics over the next couple of weeks!