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SD23 ordered to report all employees' vaccine status

Order gives legal backing for school divisions to collect vax status

  • School employees now legally obliged to give vaccine status
  • Union 'confused' by move
  • School board will have data to make mandate decision

The president of the local teachers’ union says she’s confused by the new Public Health Order that gives Medical Health Officers (MHO) the power to make school teachers and staff disclose their vaccination status.

However, the chair of the Central Okanagan School District (SD23) board says the move will help trustees decide whether or not it’s necessary to mandate vaccines for teachers and staff.

That debate is set for Jan. 26.

On Monday, Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry issued a PHO that allows MHOs to enforce measures aimed at establishing the vaccination uptake among teachers and staff.

Employers must request proof of vaccination from each staff member and must keep a record of each staff member’s vaccination status. If an employee has not provided proof of vaccination, it’s to be assumed that person is not vaccinated.

Later on Tuesday, Interior Health’s MHO issued an order for SD23 to report the vaccine status of all employees by Jan. 28.

“The first step in this [process] … is understanding the vaccination status of school staff,” Henry explained at a media briefing Tuesday afternoon. “We know several school districts had challenges in obtaining this important information … and concerns were expressed from unions and others about the legality of obtaining this information.”

SD23 had previously made it a requirement for employees to declare their vaccine status, but has struggled to get enough data to guide the board’s decision-making on a mandate.

Agreements Already Made

Speaking to the new health order, Susan Bauhart, the president of the Central Okanagan Teachers’ Association (COTA), told Kelowna10 the move by Dr. Henry is confusing because she thought there was already an understanding among the school employers and various unions about a way forward on vaccine mandates.

That process was followed by the Delta school district last week.

Employees were given six weeks to disclose their vaccine status, and, if unvaccinated, will have to undergo regular rapid testing. Failing that, employees will need to take unpaid leave.

“The BCTF (B.C. Teachers’ Federation) didn’t see this coming. Certainly I didn’t,” Bauhart said. “I guess it’s confusion. I don’t know what this means for the agreement that was struck … so I wait and hope for clarification soon.”

Bauhart spoke to Kelowna10 before IH sent an order to SD23 for the vaccine status of all employees.

Meanwhile, the SD23 school board chair, Moyra Baxter, said the new order is helpful to the board of trustees given they have twice tried to establish the vaccination status of all staff but "have not had a terribly good response.”

However, Baxter insisted this does not mean the board is expected to vote in favour of a mandate at its Jan. 26 meeting.

“No, because if we get these figures back and it shows only a small number of people haven’t been vaccinated …we can look at ways we could accommodate them, and that could be rapid testing, you could change what you’re doing and not be in the classrooms. I don’t know, we have to look at all options.”

Order Helps Finish Data Collection

SD23 superintendent Kevin Kaardal said the order they received from IH Tuesday afternoon allows the district to complete their data collection and the majority of employees had already reported back on their vaccine status.

“It’s about risk assessment,” he said, noting Dr. Henry had made the order, in part, to address any outbreaks that may occur in districts or in particular schools.

He maintains the data collection will be anonymous.

“Of course, all of it [the data] is on an aggregated level, an anonymous level. No personal information will be shared.”

Kaardal advised families they should be prepared for schools to potentially close at little notice for as much as seven days due to staffing absentees, given the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.

Published 2022-01-18 by Glenn Hicks

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