Philly public schools to mandate COVID-19 vaccine
Source: Philly Metro
Teachers, staff and contractors in Philadelphia’s public schools will be required to get the coronavirus vaccine, the city’s Board of Education decided Tuesday night, less than a week before students were scheduled to return for in-person classes five days a week. The timeline for when the district’s 20,000-person workforce will need to be vaccinated and the consequences for those who refuse a shot have not been determined.
School District of Philadelphia Superintendent William Hite said those details would be ironed out in talks with the unions representing the system’s employees. Negotiations, he said, were expected to start Wednesday. At least one union, Unite Here Local 634, composed of 2,200 cafeteria workers and aides, opposed the vaccine requirement. “We should not be telling people what to do with their bodies,” Nicole Hunt, the local’s president, told board members Tuesday. “If you and I decide to get the vaccine, that is our choice.”
Hunt said many of her members are paid low wages and do not receive healthcare coverage through the district. She worried some would resign, leaving schools short-staffed. Philadelphia Federation of Teachers President Jerry Jordan has come out in support of a “negotiated mandate,” but, in a statement Tuesday, he strongly advocated for the routine testing of asymptomatic students. District officials have said they plan to swab sick students and regularly test those who engage in high-contact sports and activities, such as choir or band.
“Regular COVID tests for students is one of the key ways that we can not only open schools but keep them open,” Jordan said. “Despite millions of dollars in available funding, the district has opted not to test asymptomatic students.” When the district adopted a hybrid plan for some grade levels last school year, 20% of all students were tested every week, regardless of symptoms.
Read more: https://philly.metro.us/philly-public-schools-to-mandate-covid-19-vaccine/
I had heard audio of the remarks from the head of the Cafeteria and school aides union (a local of the Unite Here union who represents many cafeteria and hospitality workers). And we are going to have a problem with this group. This is the type of thing that is NOT needed and they are often the very ones who end up dead in the hospital because they tend to be POC.
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This has nothing to do with politics. School employees should care about protecting their own lives, and those of their loved ones. Just as teachers, administrators and parents want to protect the lives of the students who cannot get vaccinated (yet).
Get the shots now or get another job. Wherever you go you'll be told the same thing, so do the right thing and get vaccinated.
