SD23 teachers union would support vaccine mandate

The head of the Central Okanagan Teachers Association (COTA) says if a vaccine mandate is enacted locally, it will support the school district in implementing it.

However, concerns remain about potentially losing more teachers and staff at a time when absenteeism is expected to peak because of the Omicron variant.

COTA President Susan Bauhart was speaking following a move by the Central Okanagan School District (SD23) to debate the long-simmering matter at its Jan. 26 meeting.

On Wednesday, the Delta, B.C., school district became the first in the province to move ahead with a mandate.

It supported the idea by saying it will help protect the health and safety of both staff and students.

The move was welcomed by the BC Teachers’ Federation. Employees in Delta have been given six weeks to disclose their vaccination status, and if unvaccinated, they will have to undergo regular rapid testing. Failing that, employees will need to take unpaid leave.

“If a mandate is in place, we will support them to collect the information they need and get it implemented,” Bauhart told Kelowna10. She stressed COTA has never stood in the way of a vaccine mandate but would have preferred the province make the decision provincewide, as they did in mandating the public service sector and healthcare workers.

Teacher survey results unknown

SD23 asked employees to report back on their vaccination status by sometime this month. However, that data has not been shared publicly and any discussions on the matter have been in-camera. Bauhart said it’s her understanding the level of participation was not enough to guide the district.

Superintendent Kevin Kaardal has previously told Kelowna10 that while he did not have accurate numbers, it was his sense about 80 per cent of employees were fully vaccinated.

The rapid spread of the Omicron variant prompted the province’s top doctor, Bonnie Henry, to warn employers they should be prepared for an absentee rate of up to 30 per cent. Bauhart believes the risk of schools having to close due to lack of staff has become a key factor in the conversation.

“To me, how do you shut [COVID] down, unless everybody is vaccinated,” Buahart said, noting it is important for all students as well as employees to get the jab because staff alone don’t even make up half of the people inside school buildings.

Risk of losing some teachers

However, she said the education system is already challenged with the number of staff it currently has and losing more employees who decide not to follow a mandate is a worry.

“In the event that this mandate sees us losing people in the system, much like the healthcare workers did – they lost people in their system – it’s just going to put a bigger pressure on everybody to keep out schools open,” she said.

As she awaits the vaccine mandate debate among school trustees, Bauhart said it is important for the public to be tolerant of all views and to understand everyone in the system wants schools to remain open.

“There are some [teachers] who can’t wait for this mandate to be called; there’s some who are dead set against it,“ she explained. “It’s just so sad that something like this has caused such division, not just in the education ranks, but across the board on so many levels.”

Latest COVID numbers

On Thursday the province reported 2,554 new COVID cases, of which 462 were in Interior Health (IH), a drop of 45 from the day before. There were 43 hospitalizations in IH, one more than Wednesday. A total of 16 people were in critical care, three fewer than Wednesday.