Are teachers being mandated to vaccinate?

[Fritz]

This may have been discussed already in some of the huge vaccine threads. Afaik they are not mandated in my state. I have read that Fauci and some of the teacher's unions support mandates. I haven't seen any mandates in place. Am I wrong? 

[Ottakee]

I have not seen/heard that in our area...West Michigan.

[Kanin]

I haven't heard of any in Maine. I would guess that a lot of places are waiting for FDA approval, then perhaps the COVID vaccine will get added to the list of already required vaccines for kids. I'm not sure of required vaccinations for teachers, though. 

[TheReader]

I have not seen any places mandating it so far.....maybe New York? They were mandating something. 

I have seen a few states mandating it for state employees; I don't know if teachers fall under that category, do they? I don't think so. 

Definitely not here in my state, where our governor has said no one can mandate anything that will actually help, but we all should (including said entities who can't mandate stuff) follow best practices, and oh, gee, our hospitals are overrun so no non-essential medical care, and also, can we please get some out-of-state travel nurses to come help us deal with it? Cause it's crazy.  But don't you dare mandate masks or anything, cause that's apparently worse. 

 

[whitestavern]

Denver is mandating all teachers and staff get vaccinated. 

[hshibley]

Here all county employees have to be vaccinated or tested weekly. I’d imagine teachers would fall under that jurisdiction. 

[Ailaena]

Denver is but the surrounding cities are not even necessarily requiring masks.  
 

ETA: all staff in Denver public schools are required to be vaccinated, not just teachers. 

Edited August 10, 2021 by Ailaena

[SKL]

I thought at least some teachers' unions opposed mandates.

[SKL]

Oh, I see the teacher's union has done an about face this week.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-teachers-union-shifts-stance-back-vaccine-mandate-covid-surges-2021-08-08/

[Longtime Lurker]

Not here (Michigan).

[SKL]

I don't believe there is a mandate in our state, but it is encouraged, and every teacher I know has been vaxed.  Our district gave two days off school for a mass vax event just for teachers in the spring.

I do think it's best for in-person elementary school teachers to be vaxed if they reasonably can be.  But there must be exceptions.

[ScoutTN]

Only in a private university here, that I know of.

Thankful that all the teachers at my son’s tiny school are vaxed! 

I suspect not all of Dd’s tutorial teachers are, but the tutorial have a very clear “Don’t rock the boat or be divisive.”  mandate, so I suspect we’ll never know. 
 

[Ali in OR]

Not mandated yet in Oregon. I know not all staff members are vaxxed (we've been told as much), but everyone I work with directly got vaxxed at the first opportunity. Even in an area where we hit 70% of adults vaxxed in May, I do think Delta is going to run through the schools and hit large swaths of the unvaccinated. Even with masks mandated. They'll be off at lunch and high schoolers just don't feel the threat to be cautious.

[Farrar]

They're discussing it here. I've seen articles about it. Not-a-state employees are here and they're discussing mandating teachers. I actually got polled about it by a real polling place. Approval rating for the president, the mayor, the person likely to run against the mayor in the next election, and then a bajillion questions about my feelings on mandating the vaccine for all sorts of government employees in the Douglass Commonwealth (I mean, that's what I'm just gonna call it, screw your statehood refusals).

[Faith-manor]

Not here on my side of Michigan. But some school districts did say that those who chose not to vaccinate might end up teaching only online students. I have no idea of that moved any of them to vaccinate or not, but some districts have close to 100% of faculty vaxed. Many couldn't wait, and a couple of districts closed down for a week so everyone could do it, stay home, and then not worry about finding substitute teachers and parapros. They then staggered the 2nd dose and took a four day weekend in order to not need a lot of subs.

[Loowit]

It was just recently announced that state employees must be vaccinated, but this doesn't include teacher because they work for the local school districts not the state (I think).  However, they are being strongly encouraged to vaccinate.  I think it is only a matter of time before the vaccine is required in schools for both eligible students and staff, but my guess is that they will wait for full approval for that.  However, two of our big healthcare facilities locally are requiring vaccines and there have been protests. 

[porque?]

At my (county office of education) employer we are not mandated to vaccinate and are not asked about our vaccination status.  We have asked about having mandated testing and administration does not want to implement that.  

 

eta: We currently have extremely high covid numbers in my county, and I teach children too young to vaccinate, some too young to mask.

Edited August 10, 2021 by porque?
additional information

[Jean in Newcastle]

Just pointing out that mandates are not set up by Dr Fauci. At the state level they are set up by governors who are responding to the advice of their health departments. In our state (as Loowit) explained, the governor is only in charge of mandates for state employees. Teachers work for individual school districts who can set them (probably after reaching an agreement with the teacher’s union). Blaming “Fauci” for this is a form of trolling. 

[Pam in CT]

At this point, here, not yet in public schools.  The private school my youngest just graduated from (in CT) is mandating all school employees (not just teachers) for fall.  The private university she's going to (in PA) is mandating all university employees (not just teachers) and students for fall.  In both cases there are exceptions for documented medical exceptions but not for any other reason.

The public schools in my area held vaccination clinics on school premises during paid time last spring; and my state is the third highest-vaxxed (after VT and MA); and my county is the highest-vaxxed within that.  So parents of <12 kids can be reasonably confident that most adults in the schools are doing what they can.

My town just announced there will be a mask mandate in all the schools (not just elementary) through October, and they'll reassess then based on cases.  They are *trying* to figure a testing protocol as well, but haven't announced that yet.  Both the private high school my daughter just graduated from, and the university she's headed to, did all-school-community surveillance testing last spring and will continue to do so when school reopens. Swiss cheese protections.

[Dmmetler]

Not yet, but teachers got priority and there were big vaccination clinics just for school staff, which were counted as work days (as in, they sent the kids home and did remote assignments for a day and teachers went, in set times by school, to a central location for the district to get their first COVID shot, and the same for the second), so vaccination rates among teachers and paraprofessionals (and I HOPE that cafeteria workers, custodial staff, etc were included as well) is pretty high. At the time, there was a lot of controversy because teachers were bumped up dramatically, over at risk adults who were under 65. I also don't know any anti-vax teachers IRL. Given as quickly as even a mild cold spreads around schools, it was more the other way around-I know of several who had already gotten their first shot when the stage for teachers was opened here because they had driven to another county to get it earlier.  And since mobile vaccine clinics have been coming to back to school and school round up events to try to get kids updated on any vaccines they need, and parents/teens vaccinated for COVID, it's not like teachers haven't had the opportunity if they had somehow missed getting it previously. 

 

So, I'm guessing that one reason why Dr. Ray hasn't mandated it for SCS (despite being one of the superintendents that has been on the conservative side wrt COVID) is that it may not be needed yet. If vaccine uptake is over 90% for the teachers who started this fall, as was reported after the clinics last Spring, I'm not sure you'd get any significant change by mandating. 

 

I also suspect that, just like mask mandates and virtual/hybrid options, SCS will do it first, but some of the surrounding districts won't. And, if so, I would imagine there will be a migration of teachers to and away from districts mandating vaccination. 

[TheReader]

12 minutes ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

Just pointing out that mandates are not set up by Dr Fauci. At the state level they are set up by governors who are responding to the advice of their health departments. In our state (as Loowit) explained, the governor is only in charge of mandates for state employees. Teachers work for individual school districts who can set them (probably after reaching an agreement with the teacher’s union). Blaming “Fauci” for this is a form of trolling. 

How I wish all governors were actually responding to the advice of their health departments, though I guess you are likely correct that those issuing mandates of any variety likely are those listening to health advisors vs. political advisors. 

Never before in the history of ever have I wanted to move out of my state or been in any way sad, embarrassed, frustrated, etc., with my state. Until now. 😞 

[Fritz]

34 minutes ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

Just pointing out that mandates are not set up by Dr Fauci. At the state level they are set up by governors who are responding to the advice of their health departments. In our state (as Loowit) explained, the governor is only in charge of mandates for state employees. Teachers work for individual school districts who can set them (probably after reaching an agreement with the teacher’s union). Blaming “Fauci” for this is a form of trolling. 

Not sure where you are getting the "blaming Fauci" from. I said that I read that Fauci supports them not that he himself is mandating anything.

[ktgrok]

In my district any employee who vaccinates gets a $200 bonus. That's it. No mandates. 

[ktgrok]

54 minutes ago, TheReader said:

How I wish all governors were actually responding to the advice of their health departments, though I guess you are likely correct that those issuing mandates of any variety likely are those listening to health advisors vs. political advisors. 

Never before in the history of ever have I wanted to move out of my state or been in any way sad, embarrassed, frustrated, etc., with my state. Until now. 😞 

Yup.

And we are looking to move anyway, so it is VERY tempting to look elsewhere. But...financially and because my family is here and parents are getting older, it makes more sense to stay. 

[rebcoola]

All state employees but nothing about teachers.  They did Vax clinics especially for school employees here and the turn out was disappointing.  Anything would have to come from the state no way would the local school board or district do it.

[TheReader]

18 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

Yup.

And we are looking to move anyway, so it is VERY tempting to look elsewhere. But...financially and because my family is here and parents are getting older, it makes more sense to stay. 

yea, we won't actually move, either, but.....dang. 

and as a very proud Texan-before-American type person, it's painful for me to say that. I love my state. Except, not right now. 

[AmandaVT]

No mandates in VT - our governor has not yet seemed inclined to mandate anything. His preferred route is to appeal to everyone's sense of caring for the community and all that good stuff. 

[Pam in CT]

re bonuses > mandates

1 hour ago, ktgrok said:

In my district any employee who vaccinates gets a $200 bonus. That's it. No mandates. 

That is an interesting approach.  There's presumably some number that would attract a good number of takers ($200 might not be that number, but SOME number); and unions can't really balk one way or another as it's consistent with other bonuses for doing beyond-the-contract things like running afterschool programs; and it would pass the legal gauntlet your governor has thrown down.

 

 

31 minutes ago, AmandaVT said:

No mandates in VT - our governor has not yet seemed inclined to mandate anything. His preferred route is to appeal to everyone's sense of caring for the community and all that good stuff. 

Well, so far that's worked awfully well for your community-minded state. I was there over the weekend.  More than half of folks were masking, despite the highest vax rate in the country and without mandates.    ❤️  

Would there be more of such civic / other-focused / caring good stuff.

[SoCal_Bear]

Not yet in California. Only mandates for state employees and health care workers so far.

[AmandaVT]

2 hours ago, Pam in CT said:

Well, so far that's worked awfully well for your community-minded state. I was there over the weekend.  More than half of folks were masking, despite the highest vax rate in the country and without mandates.    ❤️  

Would there be more of such civic / other-focused / caring good stuff.

That's true - I'm just getting a little twitchy thinking about going back to in-person teaching soon. We were slightly horrified when we went to RI at how blase people were, and they are also doing really well, so I can't wrap my head around what other states must be like. We've been a bit, um, sheltered, up here to say the least.

[Kanin]

2 minutes ago, AmandaVT said:

That's true - I'm just getting a little twitchy thinking about going back to in-person teaching soon. We were slightly horrified when we went to RI at how blase people were, and they are also doing really well, so I can't wrap my head around what other states must be like. We've been a bit, um, sheltered, up here to say the least.

Yeah, I'm increasingly nervous too. Yikes. 

[Pam in CT]

1 minute ago, AmandaVT said:

That's true - I'm just getting a little twitchy thinking about going back to in-person teaching soon. We were slightly horrified when we went to RI at how blase people were, and they are also doing really well, so I can't wrap my head around what other states must be like. We've been a bit, um, sheltered, up here to say the least.

My area is also quite high vaxxed rate and folks here are also masking back up without mandates.  We were among the very first very hard hit areas, though, so everyone here has vivid memories of hospital overruns,  Rhode Island never suffered through that. 

I hear you re feeling twitchy.  Sigh.

[ericathemom]

School district down the road from us in CA, Long Beach Unified, just announced that all of their employees need to show proof of vaccine or undergo weekly testing. It's a pretty large district (12,000 employees) so I expect some others to follow suit soon.

Edited August 10, 2021 by ericathemom

[ktgrok]

3 hours ago, TheReader said:

yea, we won't actually move, either, but.....dang. 

and as a very proud Texan-before-American type person, it's painful for me to say that. I love my state. Except, not right now. 

Same. I LOVED Florida. I was proudly a Florida native (not a lot of us!). The natural beauty of my state is really unusual - the wading birds, the everglades, etc. I would happily repeat the quote "there is only one Everglades in the world". I embraced my barefoot, citrus growing, salt encrusted life. 

But now, I live in the hell hole of Orlando metro, (although the springs are pretty...) and people suck, and I'm over it. 

[Faith-manor]

2 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

Same. I LOVED Florida. I was proudly a Florida native (not a lot of us!). The natural beauty of my state is really unusual - the wading birds, the everglades, etc. I would happily repeat the quote "there is only one Everglades in the world". I embraced my barefoot, citrus growing, salt encrusted life. 

But now, I live in the hell hole of Orlando metro, (although the springs are pretty...) and people suck, and I'm over it. 

Katie, is there any chance that your relatives are also really sick of it too and would consider selling out while prices are lucrative, and moving? We are working hard on our mothers to be willing to get out of here to the Alabama home which would.be so much better for them. I don't know if we will be successful. But if you could find a house that is good for your family in a place that you can enjoy more and then a couple of cute cottages or bungalows nearby, it might be healthier for all of you.

But I totally get how one ends up entirely tied down and can't get out. We have spent years in that boat, just bailing water and waiting for " someday" to come.

[mathnerd]

3 hours ago, calbear said:

Not yet in California. Only mandates for state employees and health care workers so far.

UC and the CSU system require all staff (teachers included) to be vaccinated by Fall.

Edited August 10, 2021 by mathnerd

[73349]

Not here--they just nailed down requiring a mask in schools in this district.

[ieta_cassiopeia]

The UK does not require teachers or anyone else in schools to be vaccinated, and it's not clear that teachers could be required to vaccinate unless a) their union agreed to contracts being modified accordingly or b) a new contract was being offered (which in teaching cannot be a simple take-it-or-leave-it deal; it has to be negotiated with the teaching unions).

Schools can, however, require prospective teachers (and other prospective staff) to vaccinate or supply a medical exemption before employing them. I don't know of any school using this power - yet. With the exception of care home staff, this is the same situation for every employer in the UK; compelling vaccination requires either the offer of a new contract to existing employees (in a permissible manner, which at minimum means it can't be used as a means of constructive dismissal), or it needs to be part of the hiring process for a new employee (in which case, the only restriction is that verifiable medical waivers cannot be unreasonably refused).

[regentrude]

Nope. Not in Missouri. (Not even allowed to require vaccinations at public colleges. )
They're not even required to mask in public school in my district

[ktgrok]

1 hour ago, Faith-manor said:

Katie, is there any chance that your relatives are also really sick of it too and would consider selling out while prices are lucrative, and moving? We are working hard on our mothers to be willing to get out of here to the Alabama home which would.be so much better for them. I don't know if we will be successful. But if you could find a house that is good for your family in a place that you can enjoy more and then a couple of cute cottages or bungalows nearby, it might be healthier for all of you.

But I totally get how one ends up entirely tied down and can't get out. We have spent years in that boat, just bailing water and waiting for " someday" to come.

Not likely. My dad loves the water - they have a house on a canal that has direct access to the Indian River, and the ocean. They have a boat, a dock, etc. He was a fisherman before having kids, when my mom put her foot down about the unstable money and the danger. He lives to get out there and fish, plus he loves to grow tropical plants - tons and tons of orchid species, plumeria, etc. 

Also, my sister lives here, with her kids, and she's divorced so legally can't pick up and move. 

[Faith-manor]

16 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

Not likely. My dad loves the water - they have a house on a canal that has direct access to the Indian River, and the ocean. They have a boat, a dock, etc. He was a fisherman before having kids, when my mom put her foot down about the unstable money and the danger. He lives to get out there and fish, plus he loves to grow tropical plants - tons and tons of orchid species, plumeria, etc. 

Also, my sister lives here, with her kids, and she's divorced so legally can't pick up and move. 

That's rough. We lived on the Banana River in Port St. Johns a long, long time ago.

[Wheres Toto]

I don't think we have any vaccine mandates for anyone, but some hospital systems are requiring it of vendors and employees.  

Teachers were one of the categories that was able to get vaccinated early on when they were hard to get so I expect we have a fair number of teachers vaccinated already.   We have a very good vaccination rate probably because we were among the hard hit areas in the beginning.  

We do have a mask mandate back for all schools when they start in September. 

[SoCal_Bear]

San Francisco Unified announced that they will be requiring teachers to be vax'd.

 

[SoCal_Bear]

Things are probably going accelerate one Pfizer gets their FDA approval. Supposed to happen within weeks.

 

[ktgrok]

1 hour ago, Faith-manor said:

That's rough. We lived on the Banana River in Port St. Johns a long, long time ago.

Oh! I meant the Banana River! And Yeah, they really have their own little paradise there, which is great in that staying home is less of a hardship but they definitely don't want to leave. 

[Farrar]

And... after I posted that it was under consideration, DC public schools announced it will be required. All teachers must be vaccinated by early September.

The AFT (one of the largest teacher's unions and the one that often has contract bargaining power in places where teachers have that) have said they're for mandates apparently, so that should be one road block cleared in places that want to require them.

[Arcadia]

11 hours ago, calbear said:

Not yet in California. Only mandates for state employees and health care workers so far.

 

7 hours ago, mathnerd said:

UC and the CSU system require all staff (teachers included) to be vaccinated by Fall.

no idea how reliable this news is but we will know tomorrow 
https://www.politico.com/states/california/story/2021/08/10/newsom-to-announce-nations-first-vax-or-test-rules-for-teachers-1389805

“SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to announce Wednesday that California will require all teachers and school employees to be vaccinated or submit to regular Covid-19 testing, the first such requirement in the nation amid growing Delta variant concerns, according to sources familiar with the plan.

Under the policy, school employees would have to show proof of vaccination to their districts. The move comes after three large California districts announced similar requirements on their own Tuesday and just two days after American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten voiced support for such a mandate.

The plan was described to POLITICO by sources who were not authorized to speak ahead of a Wednesday morning press conference at a school in the Bay Area. Until now, the recall-threatened governor had stopped short of requiring teacher vaccinations for the upcoming academic year.

The state's two major teachers unions — the California Teachers Association and the California Federation of Teachers — support the plan, sources said. CTA reports that nearly 90 percent of its members are vaccinated, based on a survey in March.”

[Elfknitter.#]

13 hours ago, Arcadia said:

 

no idea how reliable this news is but we will know tomorrow 
https://www.politico.com/states/california/story/2021/08/10/newsom-to-announce-nations-first-vax-or-test-rules-for-teachers-1389805

“SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to announce Wednesday that California will require all teachers and school employees to be vaccinated or submit to regular Covid-19 testing, the first such requirement in the nation amid growing Delta variant concerns, according to sources familiar with the plan.

Under the policy, school employees would have to show proof of vaccination to their districts. The move comes after three large California districts announced similar requirements on their own Tuesday and just two days after American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten voiced support for such a mandate.

The plan was described to POLITICO by sources who were not authorized to speak ahead of a Wednesday morning press conference at a school in the Bay Area. Until now, the recall-threatened governor had stopped short of requiring teacher vaccinations for the upcoming academic year.

The state's two major teachers unions — the California Teachers Association and the California Federation of Teachers — support the plan, sources said. CTA reports that nearly 90 percent of its members are vaccinated, based on a survey in March.”

Looks like they were right- https://abc7.com/vaccine-mandate-for-teachers-california-school-vaccinate-requirement/10944163/

[GracieJane]

Our governor is the first in the nation to pass a vaccine-or-test mandate for all teachers and state employees*. - California

*of agencies with x number of employees 

ETA: one of my parents works in a state-funded organization and they are required to get proof of vaccination of all employees and weekly tests for the two unvaccinated individuals 

Edited August 11, 2021 by GracieJane