All school districts in the Hamilton-Fulton-Montgomery Board of Cooperative Educational Services region have signed agreements that would allow them to become swine flu vaccination sites, according to the BOCES superintendent.
HFM BOCES Superintendent Geoffrey Davis said this morning all schools in the region have granted permission to public health agencies to use their facilities as swine flu vaccination sites, should the agencies choose to use them.
"What this agreement does is simply make these school sites available," Davis said.
Vaccinations are not yet available for use. The federal Center for Disease Control will distribute them to states, which will then send them to counties.
Fulton County Public Health Director Denise C. Frederick said today the county expects to receive some H1N1 vaccine by mid-October.
Montgomery County Community Health Educator Debbie Voght said her county's Public Health Department also expects to receive swine flu vaccine around the middle of October.
That department has not decided where vaccination sites will be set up, though she said it is likely one of the locations will be the public health building. She said schools could also be used as sites, especially because they all have signed the agreements that would enable them to be used as such.
Local school officials said they don't think the use of their facilities as vaccination sites would necessarily affect day-to-day school operations.
"I think in Gloversville, because there's so many facilities to access, I think we would be able to peacefully coexist," Gloversville Enlarged School District Superintendent Robert DeLilli said.
Greater Johnstown School District Superintendent Katherine Sullivan said because Fulton County Public Health may provide the bulk of school vaccinations in places farther away from its Johnstown offices, the district's facilities may not be used as vaccination sites.
Sullivan did say, however, that the former Jansen Avenue Elementary School building may be available for use if needed. The building is vacant, and Sullivan said for that reason, it could be a good place to provide vaccinations.
She said Frederick was "thankful" the district had a space the public health department potentially could use.
Northville Central School District Superintendent Kathy Dougherty said the district is ready to make its facilities available for vaccinations.
"Should that be necessary, we are ready to serve in that capacity," Dougherty said. "If there's anything we can do from our standpoint, we're more than willing."
As a precaution against the disease, Dougherty said the district has rearranged seating in its classrooms to ensure no students are facing one another.
District superintendents and Voght said swine flu has not yet become an overwhelming problem here.
Voght said her department has not yet had to deal with very many complaints about the disease.
"We've gotten an occasional call here or there," she said.
Zach Subar covers rural Fulton County news. He can be reached at ruralnews@leaderherald.com.