Central Okanagan unvaccinated teachers feeling a little nervous after Wednesday (Jan. 26).
And, the question of being vaccinated or not is causing some divisiveness among some school staff rooms.
But the details of how the vaccine mandate for Central Okanagan Public Schools teachers and support staff adopted by the board of education Wednesday will be implemented have yet to be ironed out, cautions Susan Bauhart, president of the Central Okanagan Teachers Association.
Bauhart will be joined by local CUPE officials next week to meet with school district superintendent/CEO Kevin Kaardal and begin figuring out answers to those outstanding questions.
Bauhart said after the board of education meeting ended at 11:30 p.m., she began getting emails from teachers with questions and concerns by midnight.
“At this point, I am preaching patience. Moyra (Baxter, board of education chair) made a point of saying the school district will be speaking with us, not to us, so that was positive to hear,” Bauhart said.
“Next week we will begin to sit down and figure out what all this means following the agreement that was reached between the BC Teachers Federation and the province on vaccine mandates.”
She said the one glitch in the Central Okanagan compared to other school districts was the vaccination data was collected before the mandate was voted on.
“That is a little backwards from other school districts who decided on the mandate first and collected the data second, and that in turn raises some questions particularly with the timelines in how and when this is all to happen,” she said.
The data survey revealed that 90 per cent of teaching and support staff confirmed being double vaccinated.
“So out of about 4,000 employees in the school district, we are talking about 400 people not being vaccinated,” she said.
Asked on the breakdown of that 400 between teachers and support staff, Bauhart said the school district has not made that statistical information available, but a BCTF survey of Central Okanagan teachers done previously found an 88 per cent vaccination rate.
“That was an informal survey but the numbers are pretty close to what the school district survey found,” she said.
Questions unvaccinated teachers face, Bauhart noted, included when the vaccine mandate actually kicks in, the timeframe for unvaccinated teachers to choose to get vaccinated, what will be considered vaccine exemptions and how the rapid test regime will work.
Meanwhile, the Central Okanagan Parent Advisory Council (COPAC) and School District 23 student council have endorsed the vaccine mandate for school district employees.
“Student safety is a key priority for our student population,” said Zach Johnson, School District 23 student council member,” Johnson said in a news release.
Simon Adams, COPAC president, added vaccine policies help prevent functional school closures when too many staff become ill.
“We encourage SD23 community stakeholders, volunteers, staff and trustees to work together, in a respectful manner, to build a stronger education system for our community,” Adams said.
READ MORE: Board of education adopts vaccine mandate
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