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“We are one and a half years into this pandemic and it’s getting worse." : Tacoma Teachers
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While Pierce County teachers and other staff have different views on the vaccine mandate, most feel comfortable about the return to the classroom.
Gov. Jay Inslee has required that all state employees and health care workers be vaccinated or face termination by Oct. 18.
On Aug. 18, he expanded the order to include K-12 educators, school staff and employees at higher education institutions, early education staff, and public, private and charter schools. The state will allow for medical or religious exemptions.
“This virus is increasingly impacting young people, and those under the age of 12 still can’t get the vaccine for themselves,” Inslee said. ”We won’t gamble with the health of our children, our educators and school staff, nor the health of the communities they serve.”
There has been outcry from some, including firefighter unions.
The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction’s Chris Reykdal told reporters Aug. 13 that he believes 70 percent of public education employees are already vaccinated. Washington state school districts and private schools employ more than 160,000 people.
In a letter Wednesday, Reykdal said OSPI filed an emergency rule outlining how schools may be denied state funding if they do not comply with safety measures, including mask and vaccine mandates, within a certain time frame.
“Statewide, nationwide and global data and research show us that universal masking and widespread vaccinations are the two most effective measures our schools can utilize to combat virus spread,” Reykdal wrote in the letter. “If there is minimal virus spread, the likelihood that you will need to close classrooms or entire schools is low.”
The News Tribune spoke with teachers and educational staff at school districts across Pierce County, who all have been vaccinated, but see the mandate differently.
Alex Clark is in her eighth year of teaching. She is a second grade teacher at Puyallup. The previous school year was stressful for her. She found virtual instruction difficult, but opted to continue rather than return to school at the end of the year.
“I felt uncomfortable,” she said.
Clark is pregnant and immunocompromised. Inslee’s mask and vaccine mandate for the upcoming school year made her feel that the risk was reduced and isn’t as worried to teach in person.
“I definitely would not be coming back if they didn’t have the mask mandate,” she said. “The vaccine mandate is an additional peace of mind for me.”
Some teachers have shared their concerns for a state-mandated vaccine.
Cara Kamel is a third grade teacher at Franklin Pierce School District with 16 years under her belt. She is looking forward to returning to the classroom. As a mother of two learning from home, she chose to continue teaching online for the entire school year last year.
She says this school year brings a range of emotions: while excited to see students again, she thinks about the climbing cases across Pierce County.
“There would be no reason to return back to school with these numbers last year,” Kamel said.
The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department is reporting a 14-day case rate of 594.8 per 100,000 residents, hitting rates not seen since the end of November. The health department said the Delta variant has ravaged the county, with 200-plus percent increases in case rates and hospitalizations in the last two weeks.
Gov. Jay Inslee has required that all state employees and health care workers be vaccinated or face termination by Oct. 18.
On Aug. 18, he expanded the order to include K-12 educators, school staff and employees at higher education institutions, early education staff, and public, private and charter schools. The state will allow for medical or religious exemptions.
“This virus is increasingly impacting young people, and those under the age of 12 still can’t get the vaccine for themselves,” Inslee said. ”We won’t gamble with the health of our children, our educators and school staff, nor the health of the communities they serve.”
There has been outcry from some, including firefighter unions.
The Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction’s Chris Reykdal told reporters Aug. 13 that he believes 70 percent of public education employees are already vaccinated. Washington state school districts and private schools employ more than 160,000 people.
In a letter Wednesday, Reykdal said OSPI filed an emergency rule outlining how schools may be denied state funding if they do not comply with safety measures, including mask and vaccine mandates, within a certain time frame.
“Statewide, nationwide and global data and research show us that universal masking and widespread vaccinations are the two most effective measures our schools can utilize to combat virus spread,” Reykdal wrote in the letter. “If there is minimal virus spread, the likelihood that you will need to close classrooms or entire schools is low.”
The News Tribune spoke with teachers and educational staff at school districts across Pierce County, who all have been vaccinated, but see the mandate differently.
Alex Clark is in her eighth year of teaching. She is a second grade teacher at Puyallup. The previous school year was stressful for her. She found virtual instruction difficult, but opted to continue rather than return to school at the end of the year.
“I felt uncomfortable,” she said.
Clark is pregnant and immunocompromised. Inslee’s mask and vaccine mandate for the upcoming school year made her feel that the risk was reduced and isn’t as worried to teach in person.
“I definitely would not be coming back if they didn’t have the mask mandate,” she said. “The vaccine mandate is an additional peace of mind for me.”
Some teachers have shared their concerns for a state-mandated vaccine.
Cara Kamel is a third grade teacher at Franklin Pierce School District with 16 years under her belt. She is looking forward to returning to the classroom. As a mother of two learning from home, she chose to continue teaching online for the entire school year last year.
She says this school year brings a range of emotions: while excited to see students again, she thinks about the climbing cases across Pierce County.
“There would be no reason to return back to school with these numbers last year,” Kamel said.
The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department is reporting a 14-day case rate of 594.8 per 100,000 residents, hitting rates not seen since the end of November. The health department said the Delta variant has ravaged the county, with 200-plus percent increases in case rates and hospitalizations in the last two weeks.
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“Now that’s the last valid excuse outside of a medical condition for not getting it,” she said. “I wish it could just be a personal issue, and make that decision themselves. People have valid concerns, but at this point I think people need to settle those concerns. I wish the state didn’t have to step in, but we are one and a half years into this pandemic and it’s getting worse. It’s necessary at this point.”
Kimberly Ward, a first grade teacher at Tacoma Public Schools for three years, feels that a person should be able to decide what they put in their bodies.
“It is a violation of our personal rights to be required or lose our jobs. Especially since we are already into our contracts,” Ward said via email. “… But if we are vaccinated, masks should not be required. Students still have the option of doing Tacoma online if their parents have significant concerns.”
Josh Melanson teaches at an alternative high school in the Auburn School District. He has been a teacher for 12 years, but last year was one of the toughest. He found that most of his students had no motivation.
“We had higher than average failure rates,” he said.
When students returned at the end of the school year, he found it difficult to teach both virtual and in-person students. Melanson said he felt like he was doing a disservice to all students, so the return to full in-person instruction made him excited for September.
He got vaccinated earlier this year and had hoped that enough people would choose to get the COVID-19 vaccine to avoid masks in schools over the summer. While he is clear about the science behind the effectiveness of the vaccine, he questions the masks.
“The vaccine, I feel comfortable. The data is really cut and dry and it seems really effective,” he said. “The mask thing is still up in the air, and it seems a lot of information has changed and gone back and forth.”
Melanson doesn’t believe that the state should get involved in mandating vaccination requirements.
“I believe that you as a citizen can choose not to get injected with chemicals and it shouldn’t ruin your employment or cancel unemployment insurance,” he said. “I don’t believe that anyone should be fired for that. It’s their risk not mine.”
He worries about a precedence being set in mandating health requirements for state employees.
“I agree with Inslee on a lot of things, but there are so many bad things that could happen,” he said. “What if I don’t agree with the next guy who comes in?”
He isn’t the only one concerned for the power used by elected officials during the pandemic, but some see it as justified.
Tim Chalberg has taught at Tacoma Public Schools for eight years, and got his COVID-19 vaccine in the spring, along with many other teachers who were concerned about returning to school without it, he said.
“However, there is a difference between choosing to get a vaccine and being told to get it, especially before there was FDA approval beyond emergency use,” he said. “I would anticipate that some of my colleagues who are vaccinated might be upset by the precedent set with the timing of the mandate and/or the lack of collective bargaining.”
Chalberg said he’d be more concerned about the precedent set by the mandate if the vaccines weren’t so effective and if there wasn’t a global pandemic.
“These are extraordinary times, and for me that justifies an extraordinary measure like this,” Chalberg said.
Greg Stevens is a retired teacher and assistant debate coach in Puyallup. He said students were exhausted last year from online learning all day, and debate was difficult. He is looking forward to the return to in-person and believes everyone should be vaccinated to protect the kids and their families.
“I don’t want to give COVID to anyone. That’s my biggest fear,” he said.
He has already seen students this year in debate prep, and masks have not been a problem for them.
He remembers having to get an annual tuberculosis test as a teacher in Iowa, and supports the vaccine mandate “100 percent.”
“Those things have gone away because TB is not real anymore, but these requirements have been with it for a long time,” Stevens said. “People forget that.”
Christina Cooper works with special education students between the ages of 2 and 5 for an early childhood education program with the Bethel School District. Cooper supports the vaccine mandate.
“I think it’s great,” said Cooper, who’s worked at Bethel for 13 years. “I think it’s needed, and especially since we’re in special education. … They’re not able to get vaccinated, and most of them aren’t able to wear a mask. And we’re looking at our special education kiddos, who, not all of them but a majority of them, have underlying health conditions.”
Cooper said she also has an at-risk family member at home and can’t risk taking COVID-19 home.
Required immunizations for staff members are not new, Cooper said, but the issue has become politicized.
“All the controversy around this vaccine seems absurd to me,” Cooper said.
Some school employees, like Cooper, could see some staff members cutting corners and claiming an exemption.
In guidance to schools earlier this week, OSPI said that under state and federal law “religion” is broadly defined, and can include religious beliefs that are “new, uncommon, not part of a formal church or sect, individualistic, or only held by a small number of people.” Because of this, districts should ordinarily assume an employee’s request is sincere.
Districts can seek additional supporting information if they “have doubts” that the religious belief is sincere, but should proceed with caution and obtain legal advice before they pursue further proof, such as requesting verification from the employee’s pastor, rabbi, church elder, etc.
“I fully support the vaccination requirement, for the well being of myself, my husband, my 9-year-old daughter who cannot yet get vaccinated, my parents, my students, my peers, and the community at large,” she said.
Fuck off, teachers unions.
Early test for Deathsantis to fight this
In Britain, Young Children Don’t Wear Masks in School
During the Delta surge, British schools emphasized other safety measures: quarantining and regular testing for the virus.
They must be repurblicans over there or some such...definitely anti science fascists.