Get vaccinated or lose job, Peninsula School District staff are told

The Peninsula School District will fully comply with Gov. Jay Inslee’s directive requiring all K-12 school district employees to be vaccinated, the district superintendent told her staff Wednesday.

Unless they claim a religious exemption, teachers and other staff must present proof of vaccination or be “separated” from the district, Superintendent Krestin Bahr said in a memo to teachers and staff.

“Peninsula School District and our Board of Directors do not have local control over this matter,” Bahr said. “We are legally required to follow the Governor’s directive.”

The directive requires school employees to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 18. For those taking the two-dose vaccines, that means they will have to have their first shot by early September — by Sept. 13 for Pfizer or Sept. 6 for Moderna.

School resumes Tuesday, Sept. 7.

“I wholeheartedly support the governor’s directive to make vaccinations mandatory for all K-12 staff in our state,” Bahr said in a statement to The Gateway. “In doing so, we are protecting what we have been working so hard for — to open our schools next month and keep them open full-time for in-person learning five days a week. Students deserve this added layer of safety in our schools.”

In a memo to district staff, Bahr said a religious exemption will be available. Otherwise, vaccination is a condition of employment and non-vaccinated employees “will be separated from employment.”

A religious exemption will be fairly simple to get. It will not require medical consultation or proof of affiliation with an organized religion, the memo said. Those claiming a religious exemption may simply “attest” to their religious belief.

However, employees who are vaccinated will need to provide proof of vaccination, the memo said. How that will be accomplished is still being worked out. Most vaccination clinics provide a card showing the date of vaccination.

Many of the district’s 1,300 employees have already been vaccinated voluntarily, although the district hasn’t been keeping track of their status, said Aimee Gordon, the district communications director.

“The process of how we do this will be outlined by OSPI, and we don’t have that guidance yet,” she said, referring to the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. “We’re also waiting to learn how we treat employees who have exemptions.”

It is not clear whether employees with exemptions will be kept separate from students and colleagues, or somehow identified to them.

Other points in the memo:

▪ The vaccination requirement does not apply to students. However, students, staff and visitors must still wear face coverings in school buildings and on buses.

▪ There is not an option to undergo regular testing for COVID-19 instead of receiving a vaccination or exemption.

▪ Information teachers and staff provide about their vaccinations will be kept confidential.

Bahr urged teachers and staff to continue to prepare for school in the fall.

“This announcement will not delay our return to school buildings this fall, and unvaccinated employees should continue to come to work while in the process of becoming fully vaccinated,” she said.

The Peninsula School District covers 120 square miles on the Gig Harbor and Key peninsulas with 11 schools and about 9,000 students.

This story was originally published August 19, 2021 at 12:45 PM.