by Jim Masters
LANSING, Ill. (September 25, 2021) – South Cook County region schools seeking essential supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) made their way to Lansing on Thursday and Friday.
Lansing School District 158’s new maintenance building on Greenbay Avenue served as the main distribution site for the PPEs, providing equipment to about 18 school districts through the South Cook Intermediate Service Center, which serves as a regional office of education.
According to Dr. Nathan Schilling, District 158 Superintendent of Schools, the PPE supplies included more than 65,000 face masks, 27,000 pairs of gloves, and 1300 gallons of hand sanitizer. He noted that the maintenance building is sufficient in size to accommodate all the PPEs.
District 158’s maintenance staff volunteered to handle to distribution — the second year the district has hosted such a mass distribution. Last year, approximately 30 school districts came to Lansing for the PPE distribution, according to Schilling.
Ryan Fortin, Director of Building and Grounds for the district, noted that the third bay of the new maintenance building had been nearly completely filled with supplies, and by 11 a.m. on Thursday, the majority had already been picked up.
“We’re always willing to help our fellow school districts in need,” Schilling said. “We also did the same last year to assist other districts with food service distributions.”
Students, teachers, and staff have been required to wear protective masks and observe a modicum of social distancing since the start of the school year.
Vaccination clinics offered
District 158 will be hosting vaccinations clinics, free to the public, at Coolidge Elementary from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, October 2 and Saturday, October 23.
The school is located at 17845 Henry St., Lansing. Visitors are asked to enter the building through door No. 3 and proceed to the Coolidge Multi-Purpose Room. Walk-ins are welcome.
The paragraphs on the walk-in vaccination clinics at Coolidge School do not mention the type of vaccines offered. Will this include Pfizer’s Covid vaccine boosters for seniors who have already received the first two doses six months ago?
Hi Elizabeth, we’ve asked Dr. Nathan Schilling this question and he said: “We received word from the IDPH that the booster will be available for those who qualify for it.”