Louis Riel first division poised to require workers be vaccinated

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This article was published 18/08/2021 (1128 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Staff members in the Louis Riel School Division are slated to become the first public school employees in Manitoba to be mandated to get a COVID-19 vaccine.

Superintendent Christian Michalik issued a community notice Thursday afternoon in which he indicated division administration is working out the details of a vaccination mandate for its employees, with support from the local teachers association.

Michalik said all employee groups will be consulted as policy and procedures are developed on both vaccines and mask usage, while noting the division is liaising with government officials to explore the possibility of rapid testing for employees who aren’t vaccinated.

“These developing mandates and the supporting policies are not intended to be barriers; rather, they are a means to promote safety and incentivize collective behaviours to not only start school in September in a safe and welcoming way, but also to sustain that effort and stay in school despite the fourth wave,” he wrote.

Draft policies are to be shared at a special board meeting in Louis Riel on Tuesday.

The division will launch an online survey to collect community feedback before final consideration of the policies on Sept. 7, the first official school board meeting of 2021-22.

Calling compulsory immunization “one more layer of protection for every one of us,” the president of the Louis Riel Teachers’ Association confirmed the union’s support for the mandate.

“There’s a likely fourth wave on the way. We know that vaccines work and that some children are not yet eligible to be vaccinated. COVID-19 and the delta variant will pose a real threat to teachers, students, and everyone who walks through our doors,” said Marcela Cabezas, in an emailed statement.

The Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents school support staff in Louis Riel, supports the division’s move to protect staff.

“We do however, want to ensure that CUPE members have their human rights respected, and so we will fight to make sure that members who have a valid medical reason for not getting vaccinated are not fired or disciplined unfairly,” a union spokesperson said in an email.

Last week, the board of trustees in the Pembina Trails School Division penned a letter to the province asking it to make full vaccination a condition to work in public schools.

In his Thursday update, Michalik indicated Louis Riel has been lobbying the province for a similar universal policy to be enacted since July.

The Manitoba Teachers’ Society, Manitoba NDP, and Manitoba Liberals have since expressed support for a vaccine mandate in public education.

Earlier this week, Dr. Joss Reimer, medical lead for the COVID-19 vaccination task force, indicated public health had not ruled out providing a recommendation on mandating vaccines in certain front-line fields.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie