Montgomery County teachers have started receiving COVID-19 vaccines and are once again getting excited about returning to classrooms, write Erin McCarthy, Maddie Hanna, and Kristen A. Graham for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Among them is Cheltenham High School English teacher Kristin Keiser, for whom the vaccination will mean flexibility to go into her school building. This was something she was avoiding by taking medical leave when Cheltenham High briefly offered in-person classes.

”I’ve just been in this holding pattern,” said Keiser. “Now, with the vaccination and with the mitigation steps the district has done, I feel comfortable going in.”

Teachers and other school staff are among the first Pennsylvanians to receive the Johnson & Johnson one-shot vaccine.

For Norristown, the state vaccine program is “absolutely game-changing,” said Superintendent Christopher Dormer.

While the district has remained all-virtual so far, it will start in-person instructions on April 5. By then, more than 90 percent of its staff will have been vaccinated and have the two-week immunity period behind them.

“This is a huge piece of anxiety that comes off their minds and plates,” said Dormer. “Now they can just focus on being excited to see kids in the classrooms.”

Read more about the vaccinations at The Philadelphia Inquirer by clicking here.