Las Cruces Public Schools begin coordinating to get their teachers vaccinated

EL PASO, Texas - The Las Cruces Public School system has begun working to get their educators prepared to receive COVID-19 vaccinations.

LCPS spokeswoman Kelly Jameson spoke to ABC-7 on Wednesday, saying that LCPS has about 2,000 teachers that they want to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

That process starts by coordinating those teachers to go onto the New Mexico Department of Health website and create individual profiles for vaccine registration.

“One of the first questions they ask you is what area do you work in for the state of New Mexico," explained Jameson. "If you select education then you are prioritized and then as your appointment becomes available the department reaches out to you and verifies the information.”

However those vaccinations will only be given to those who ask for them.

“We are highly recommending that they be vaccinated right now because it is a voluntary vaccine however we cannot require them to be vaccinated as a condition of employment," said Jameson.

And as more vaccine is accrued in the coming weeks, LCPS will also make sure non-teaching employees are taken care of.

“If there is a surplus then our nutrition services staff can be vaccinated and our custodial staff can be vaccinated because those are the sub-sets of employees in our district who are in the classroom and in our buildings right now," Jameson said.

Jameson also said that the mission statement here for LCPS right now is to make sure they have a "healthy and dependable population" of educators ready and available for small group, in-person learning again once the COVID-19 numbers improve in Dona Ana County.

The link through which those educators can access the New Mexico Department of Health Vaccine Registration System can be found here.