The union representing Kelowna teachers has advised them they do not need to provide their COVID-19 vaccination status to Central Okanagan Public Schools.
Trustees have told teachers and all other district staff they have until Jan. 14 to provide the information, but the Central Okanagan Teachers Association has filed a grievance against the directive.
“The message is just simply advising members of what we believe are their rights,” COTA president Susan Bauhart said Friday. “I wouldn’t say we’re advising them not to provide the information. And I’ll just leave it at that. I’d rather not say anything beyond that.”
Asked if the union had filed a grievance against the school board over the issue, Bauhart said: “Well, I can’t comment on that. There are rules around a lot of this, and I really cannot comment.”
But the whole grievance process could prove to be a moot point as The Daily Courier has learned it is possible that Interior Health will soon issue a public health order compelling school district employees to disclose their COVID-19 vaccination status to the school board.
“At this time, no order has been issued,” Interior Health said in a Friday statement.
“Interior Health is supportive of measures the school district continues to take to protect their staff and students from the risk of exposure to COVID-19,” the statement said. “We share the school district’s priority to ensure safety and continuity of services at schools.”
School administrators say requiring staff to disclose their COVID-19 vaccination status is a necessary and legal step in deliberations about whether a vaccine mandate will eventually be introduced.
Trustees voted at a meeting in late October to require all 4,000 staff to provide their vaccination status. An earlier request for staff to submit the information was ignored by many employees.
Although a grievance process is underway, the school district’s intention based on convention and legal advice is to stick with the mid-January deadline for teachers and other staff to provide their COVID-19 vaccination status.
The decision for trustees at that point will be whether to abandon consideration of a vaccine mandate for all staff, as some of the 60 school districts in BC have done, or to implement one.
If the choice is the latter, teachers and other staff who have not provided the information could be placed on unpaid leave, or they could be required to submit to frequent COVID-19 testing as a condition of their employment.
Placing unvaccinated teachers and those who’ve refused to indicate their vaccination status on leave could result in the district facing significant staff shortages in the middle of a school year, with a resulting disruption to many students’ education.
But a key argument in favor of a mandate will be the emergence of the fast-spreading Omicron variant, which is expected to lead to a significant increase in COVID-19 infections in the weeks and months ahead.
The provincial government, many municipalities, and private businesses have already required their employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. This week, the City of Kelowna placed two per cent of its workforce on unpaid leave for not providing information that shows they are fully vaccinated.
But the situation is somewhat more complicated for school boards because they have a clearly defined responsibility placed on them by the provincial government to consult with their employees on issues like a vaccine mandate.
That consultation process has been underway for some time, but the union’s message to its members they do not have to provide their COVID-19 vaccination to the employer has complicated matters.
District officials are frustrated by what they believe is one message delivered by the teachers’ union in public – that it does not oppose vaccine mandates – and what they say is the reality behind the scenes, with the union advising its members they don’t have to provide their vaccination status and even filing a grievance over the issue.
The names of more than 130 school district employees are attached to a 31-page letter sent to the school board denouncing the prospect of a COVID-19 vaccine mandate as “criminal”.
Among many false statements, the letter also says COVID-19 vaccines are “killing more people than they are helping”, suggests trustees may face “incarceration” if they eventually vote for a vaccine mandate, and references the idea that the vaccines may contain “ nano technology”.
