Louis Riel School Division to mandate COVID-19 vaccination for all staff
1st Manitoba division to require vaccines; Manitoba Teachers' Society also wants mandatory vaccination
Winnipeg's Louis Riel School Division will require all of its employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 before returning to work this fall, the division's superintendent confirmed Thursday.
"We're mandating vaccines for staff," Louis Riel School Division superintendent Christian Michalik told CBC News in an interview.
Louis Riel is the first school division in Manitoba to issue a vaccine mandate for its staff.
Even with the vaccination mandate, the division still wants to work with staff who may be hesitant to get vaccinated, Michalik said.
The division is still working out its policy around its vaccination mandate. Once that is ironed out, the division will look into whether a similar mandate for students eligible to be vaccinated is possible, said Michalik.
The division plans to consult consult with the community before anything is set in stone, he added.
Mask and vaccination mandates "cannot come at the expense of building community, compassion and dialogue," the division said in a statement posted on its website Thursday.
Draft policies will get a first reading a special meeting of the division's board on Tuesday, Aug. 24, at 5 p.m., the statement said. An online survey will also be offered.
The board will consider that feedback, and the policies, at its first regular meeting of the school year on Tuesday, Sept. 7 — which is also the first day of classes — according to the division's website.
Earlier this week, the division said it will also require students and staff to wear medical-grade masks in its K-12 classrooms and on division school buses.
Michalik said he would like to see the province implement similar policies for vaccines and masks across the school system so that divisions wouldn't have to make those choices alone.
The Manitoba Teachers' Society and Winnipeg's Pembina Trails School Division have also called on the province to mandate vaccines for staff ahead of the September return to class.
Brian O'Leary, superintendent of Seven Oaks School Division, said his board would have "no problem" if the province mandated school staff to be vaccinated.
Anecdotally, O'Leary said he understands the level of vaccinations among staff at Seven Oaks is high, although he isn't as sure about students. He said the division is working with the province to get more kids vaccinated and is also looking forward to the time when eligibility might be expanded to children under 12.
"With school in session, I think there's tremendous potential to get high numbers vaccinated. Whether we would make it compulsory, probably not, possibly for staff, and even then, if you're not vaccinated, then you're needing to get tested."
Another educational institution looking at testing is the University of Winnipeg, where academic vice-president Jan Stewart said they are working with provincial public health officials on the frequency and manner in which unvaccinated individuals would be tested for COVID-19.
Stewart said a recent survey of more than 800 students, staff and faculty showed 92 per cent of students and 97 per cent of faculty and staff were fully or partially vaccinated.
Mask, vaccine policies up to divisions
The province's back to school plan, revealed earlier this month, allows for school divisions to mandate masks if they want to. While the plan strongly recommends their use in schools, it doesn't include a provincewide mask requirement.
Education Minister Cliff Cullen said the province believes as vaccination rates rise and COVID-19 transmission slows, that recommendation will be enough to make schools safe come Sept. 7.
But some want the province to reconsider that decision, including province's largest school division, which is considering a mask mandate of its own.
Betty Edel, chair of the Winnipeg School Division board, wrote a letter to Cullen about this issue, asking him to change his position.
The letter argues that the provincial government "has neglected to stabilize the education system for our children and youth by shifting the responsibility to school boards to determine whether masks should be mandatory in schools."
Edel said the division has asked the province to respond to their letter by Friday. If the province doesn't change its position, she said the Winnipeg School Division board of trustees will vote on a school mask mandate at a meeting next Wednesday.
Edel said she's frustrated the province won't step up and institute a mask mandate itself.
"I would have thought they would have taken the stress off of everyone and just made something uniform across the province," she said.
"If they feel that they don't want to and make sure everything is the same across the province, then the Winnipeg School Division will step up and do our job and protect all our staff and students."
Next Wednesday's meeting is expected to focus on masks, ensuring physical distancing and good ventilation in buildings, Edel said.
However, if a trustee wants to discuss vaccination as well, that could be included in the meeting, she said.
Other divisions that have already announced mask mandates for the upcoming school year include the River East Transcona and Seven Oaks divisions in Winnipeg.
Cullen was not available for an interview Thursday, but in a statement he said the ministry and public health officials are monitoring the situation and will make adjustments accordingly.
With files from Susan Magas and Alana Cole