SD73 board chair Rhonda Kershaw would like the province to take the lead on implementing a vaccine mandate for B.C. teachers and staff (Image Credit: CFJC Today)
SCHOOL VACCINE MANDATE

SD73 board chair wants provincial health office to make decision on vaccine mandate in schools

Oct 7, 2021 | 2:23 PM

KAMLOOPS — Education critic Jackie Tegart is sounding the alarm bells about the province offloading a vaccine mandate for school staff onto each district.

“When it comes to vaccination of teachers and staff, the Premier’s choosing to sidestep the issue, creating a potential patchwork of programs across the province,” said Tegart on Wednesday at the B.C. Legislature.

Many others, including chair of the School District 73 Board of Education, doesn’t want school trustees being forced to make such a critical decision.

“I would hope, to be honest, that the province will take this back into their realm,” said SD73 board chair Rhonda Kershaw. “Really, the public health office has the ability to mandate this or not based on the health requirements, and it’s their legislative authority if they feel it would warrant it.”

Kershaw says the board has discussed the topic of mandatory vaccines, but very briefly. The board has been supportive of vaccinations all along, but she feels it’s too soon to offer up an opinion on this particular matter because there are so many variables.

“Such as, what if it then leads to a shortage of staff in certain areas?” she questioned. “We don’t know what it would look like, particularly in our district if we were to put a mandate down. How many of our staff would choose to go on an unpaid leave? I can’t answer that. We just don’t have enough information.”

The Kamloops-Thompson Teachers’ Association agrees that not having a province wide mandate is the wrong approach.

“This is concerning for us because we do know that different districts are going to do things differently,” said MacPherson. “It puts a lot of pressure on the school district and trustees in order to make a decision.”

MacPherson is also concerned about potentially losing teachers who would be strongly against a vaccine mandate.

“What do you do when employees decide they’re not going to work for one district that mandates it and go to another that doesn’t,” said MacPherson. “So then it becomes an imbalance in the system, so it should’ve just been a provincial mandate rather than district by district.”

Kershaw shares that sentiment, which is why she is hoping the province takes back the issue and makes the final decision.