All students in the Mehlville School District will return to five days of in-person learning in April, after an assist from a pharmacy owner alumnus to get the district’s teachers vaccinated this week.

The district is holding the first of two vaccine clinics for all district teachers and staff who want a COVID-19 vaccine Friday, with vaccines provided by an alumnus, Dr. Tyler Taylor of St. Louis Hills Pharmacy in South City. The second dose will be administered April 16. Both days will be switched to virtual learning for all students to accommodate teachers going to their appointments.

Since most teachers will be vaccinated after the clinics, the district will return to five days a week of  in-person learning for every student except those who chose to enroll in the all-virtual Mehlville@Home virtual learning academy.

Elementary school students are already attending five days a week in person, but middle schools and high schools will also make the jump back inside school buildings full-time for the first time since March last year, when the district dismissed for spring break and then switched to virtual learning due to the pandemic.

The four middle schools and two high schools, Oakville and Mehlville, will start back for five days a week April 19. The school year is currently slated to go to the end of May to make up for snow days.

“(The vaccine) will enable us to go fully five days a week in middle school and high school on April 19,” Superintendent Chris Gaines said in a video posted on YouTube. “We’re really, really excited for this news and really thankful we’ve been able to secure this” with the help of Tyler. “We certainly appreciate his help in enabling us to get back to school five days a week K-12. We’re excited about it.”

High schools started the year all-virtual and returned to buildings on a hybrid/blended basis for two weeks in October and November, before substitute shortages districtwide forced the district to move high school back to virtual. High schools started back in school part-time at the start of the second semester Jan. 19.

Editor’s note: This article was updated with the correct date for Mehlville’s second vaccination clinic.