Nothing could have quite prepared Spanish teacher Charlotte Santana for the changes the pandemic brought to how she teaches.
"There has been no comparable year that has happened that I can even contrast to this particular year," said Santana, who works at Marshalltown High School.
For Santana, moving past the struggles of 2020 means getting the COVID-19 vaccine.
"The vaccine feels like it's going to make us, not necessarily, superheroes, but we feel like we can protect students.," she said.
Actually getting the vaccine to educators will be a challenge, according to Marshalltown Community School District administrators. While they have been working on a distribution plan, they say they don't have all the information they need.
"Unfortunately the Iowa Department of Public Health stays pretty close lipped on information relative to how much and when. They just encourage you to be prepared for any and all possibilities," said Theron Schutte, Superintendent of the school district.
The district has about 900 employees who would qualify for a vaccine in Phase 1B of the states distribution plan. According to a poll conducted by the school district, more than three quarters of employees are interested in getting vaccinated.
Once vaccines do arrive, the school district has a plan of who to vaccinate first.
"We have prioritized based on who would be the most exposed ,who would be at the top of our list based on the likelihood of exposure," said Stacey Tool-Crawford, lead nurse for the school district.
District leaders hope to vaccinate staff at the schools where they work. While they'll rely on their experience administering the flu vaccine, they say some things will have to look different.
"We have different areas in our buildings that we will do the vaccines. We want to be in an area where we can be socially distant," said Tool-Crawford.
With fully in-person learning just over two weeks away, the urgency is mounting for administrators.
"Not only are we worried about our employees, we're worried about our students and many of their family members that live within the household that made them not have access to the vaccine at this time," said Schutte.
And while Santana is nervous about getting the vaccine, she said he believes it's the right thing to do for her students.
"if I can play a bigger part in that and combat the spread of...COVID-19...it just feels like it's something I'm willing to do. The side effects are a little scary, but the sacrifice of that, it's well worth it," she said.