To keep education workers, students, and families safe, the Toronto District School Board has announced mandatory vaccine requirements for all staff.
Posted Sep 15, 2021, 06:33AM EDT
To keep education workers, students, and families safe, the Toronto District School Board has announced mandatory vaccine requirements for all staff.
Releasing details Tuesday evening in a release, the TDSB said all employees, trustees, and those who have direct contact with staff and students at its workplace, must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by November 1 of this year — adding “subject to approved requests for exemptions under the Human Rights Code.”
In the meantime, it said those who are not vaccinated or have chosen not to disclose their vaccine status must continue to undergo testing and provide a negative result twice a week, and those who do not have a medical or disability exemption will be required to participate in an education session on the benefits of vaccination.
On Tuesday, Toronto Public Health said it’s investigating and contacting tracing at nearly two dozen schools.
The TDSB is collecting vaccination disclosure information from its 40,000 staff members, it said, and around 94 per cent of the staff who have provided that information, which is about 83 per cent, have indicated they have rolled up their sleeves.
Near the end of August, the TDSB said the board provided direction to staff to begin creating a mandatory vaccine procedure.
“This is an important step in the TDSB’s direction to keep students and staff as safe as possible during the pandemic. By requiring staff, Trustees and others to be vaccinated, we reduce the impact that COVID cases have on our classrooms, schools and communities,” TDSB Chair, Alexander Brown, said in a statement.
