All Sooke School District employees will be required to show proof of having received at least two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine by March 7, despite school staff shortages that have left the district on the brink of functional closures.
Ravi Parmar, Sooke School Board chairman, announced Monday that the board had voted to introduce a full vaccine mandate to keep students and staff safe amid the fast-spreading Omicron variant. The board had said in December that new staff would have to show proof of vaccination before being hired by the district.
“Since returning from the winter break, we have heard loud and clear from our students, staff and families that they want us to take further steps to help keep our schools healthy and safe,” Parmar said Monday, adding the decision was not taken lightly.
“We recognize it will have an impact on district staff who have worked, above and beyond, over the last two years, to adapt their practices during the pandemic to ensure the safety of our students and enable their ongoing instruction.”
The district serves the communities of Sooke, Port Renfrew, the Highlands, Metchosin, Colwood and Langford, with an enrollment of just over 12,000 students.
While he does not know how many of the school district’s 1,800 employees are vaccinated, Parmar said more than 90 per cent of respondents to a voluntary survey of employees last fall reported they were vaccinated.
He said the board was forced to act even as the district faces a staff absentee rate hovering around 15 per cent — with close to 120 teachers off.
Parmar said the district has been “close” to a functional closure, and has had to draw on educators in the board office to fill positions in schools. “So far, only the superintendent has not been called, but he, too, has a teaching certificate.”
He said the board will continue to monitor the situation.
A functional closure is when a school has to temporarily shut down due to a lack of staff to provide the necessary level of support and supervision to ensure the health and safety of students.
Parmar said the vaccine mandate could not have been implemented any sooner, due to contractual obligations the district has with the various employees’ associations, groups and unions, which required six weeks’ notice.
Any employees who are not vaccinated by March 7 will be required to take regular rapid tests at least once a week. Employees who choose not to participate will be placed on extraordinary leave without pay.
The Sooke School District vaccine mandate follows similar moves by the Delta and Nanaimo-Ladysmith school districts. On Vancouver Island, both the Victoria and Cowichan Valley school boards have rejected proposals for a vaccine mandate. There are 60 school districts in the province.
“We recognize how tired we all are and how we all want to put this pandemic behind us,” Parmar said. “Together we will get through this.”
