COVID vaccine decision for K-12 school staff could come as soon as next week
State schools Superintendent Chris Reykdal on Friday said schools will start on time even with his request to the governor to mandate vaccines for school staff statewide.
With an estimated 70 percent vaccinated among state education ranks now, Reykdal said that meant an estimated 40,000-50,000 still need the COVID-19 vaccine.
On Thursday, Reykdal sent a letter to Gov. Jay Inslee requesting that he require K-12 employees to face the same COVID-19 vaccine requirement as state and licensed health care workers.
“I hope for an announcement next week by the governor,” he told reporters at a Friday news conference in Olympia. “I expect it, but that is because I believe we’ve understood the intent of this governor to keep us healthy and safe, and to increase vaccinations, but ultimately that is up to the governor to decide.”
The current request does not extend to students who also may qualify for the vaccine under current guidelines. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has received federal emergency use authorization for people 12 and older.
Any requirement for students, he noted, comes via a separate process with state and federal recommendations ultimately through the Department of Health and its school vaccination requirements.
Earlier in the week, Inslee said the state would require the vaccines for most state and licensed health care providers, including long-term care workers, with workers to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 18. The new mandate allows for medical or religious exemption.
In his letter, Reykdal noted that “With the continued increase in cases of COVID-19 across our state due to the highly contagious Delta variant, students losing precious time learning in-person with their educators and peers because of quarantine or, potentially, school building closures is a real threat.”
In his letter to the governor, he added that “I encourage you to include the fact that any school employee who chooses not to receive their vaccination by the specified date will be subject to non-disciplinary dismissal from employment,” Reykdal said in the letter. “I also encourage exemptions for school employees out of medical and religious necessity, consistent with your August 9 order.”
On Friday, Reykdal told reporters that he sought broad input before taking action.
“We consulted with district leaders from all over the state, association leaders … principals, superintendents, school boards, labor leaders, obviously the Governor’s Office, Department of Health, Labor and Industries. We have a long group of folks that we try to work through before we come to these decisions,” he said.
A representative for the Washington Education Association told The Seattle Times on Thursday that the union will support a mandate if public health experts determine it “is the next best step to take to control this pandemic.”
Shannon Ergun, president of the Tacoma Education Association, told The News Tribune in an emailed statement: “As a parent, educator, and labor leader, I want our students, families, and educators to be safe and healthy.
“We need to do all we can to keep everyone safe and at least half of students and many of our adults cannot be vaccinated at this time. I hope that those who can be vaccinated will make that choice,” she wrote.
She added that “Medical professionals have come out strongly in support of masking and vaccination as the best methods to stop this virus. Our national affiliate, NEA, has also out shared strong support for educators getting vaccinated. Tacoma educators want to step into classrooms in September to provide our students with the learning opportunities they need to grow and thrive. To do that, everyone in our schools needs to do their part to ensure that our schools are following the guidance of medical professionals to keep our students and colleagues safe and healthy.“
Additionally, on Friday Reykdal made clear that districts “knowingly and willingly” not complying with the state’s requirements for indoor masking inside schools will face a loss of state and federal funds.
“The governor issued a mask requirement in our schools, again because we have so many people unvaccinated, because it is a mitigating strategy that is very, very effective. There is very clear research about this,” he said.
“I have nothing but respect for local school boards who are concerned about a mask order, but they are willfully violating the law if they make a choice to pass a resolution in direct violation of any law, including a governor’s order,” he said. “And as a constitutional officer myself, I have to uphold the law. I cannot look the other way for a willful violation that puts the safety of our children at risk.
“We will unfortunately find ourselves having to suspend apportionment funds for districts who willfully violate that through a board action,” he said.
Reykdal noted that outbreaks in COVID hotspots in other parts of the country should be a warning to Washington state if no action is taken.
“We have outbreaks all over the South right now just as they’re starting school, in large part because they are not vaccinating or an even bigger part because they won’t wear face coverings as a matter of their ideology,” he said.
“That is not Washington state,” he said. “We have demonstrated the effectiveness of our safety protocols, and we’re going to do it again this school year, and now with vaccines we can open schools, broadly, keep them open and keep folks safe.”
This story was originally published August 13, 2021 at 10:29 AM.
