10% of English school employees in N.L. have not declared vaccination status: district
CBC
Teachers in Newfoundland and Labrador have one week to declare they've been fully vaccinated or they'll be placed on unpaid leave.
On Thursday, Newfoundland and Labrador English School District director Tony Stack said he doesn't expect significant staff shortages following the deadline, though he said about 1,000 district staff members — including teachers, school custodians and administrators — have yet to declare their status.
"Ninety per cent of our employee base right now have already uploaded the documents. We're expecting the remainder to do so before the deadline," Stack told CBC New on Thursday.
Any employees who have not indicated they're fully vaccinated by Dec. 17 will be placed on leave without pay and will not be allowed in schools. Stack said those employees will stay on leave for as long as the public health measure is in effect.
Stack said the district does not know which employees have yet to upload their status and who might be refusing to get vaccinated. He said only 35 employees have applied for exemptions, and the deadline to do that was Wednesday.
"We're assuming right now that those 35 were the only ones that are going to request that," he said.
Education Minister Tom Osborne said educators have asked for additional public health protocols to be put in place.
"Ensuring a mandatory vaccination for educators is one of those steps to ensure that the classroom is safer," he said.
The provincial government announced the Dec. 17 vaccination deadline for all public sector workers, including school district employees, back in mid-October.
"It's another tool to help people feel safe," Premier Andrew Furey said at the time. "Being fully vaccinated protects not just an individual; it protects all of us."
In a statement Thursday, a spokesperson for the Department of Finance said 88 per cent of core government employees have disclosed their vaccination status, and of those 99.8 per cent are compliant with the mandatory vaccination policy.
According to data provided by Public Health, as of Wednesday, 91.49 per cent of people over the age of 12 in Newfoundland and Labrador had been fully vaccinated.
Stack expects that percentage will be even higher for the province's teachers, and said the district has received very little pushback on the policy.
"Every time education's been asked to deal with a new curveball throughout this COVID period our employees have stepped up and done so," he said. "We expect nothing different this time."
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