Yellowknife Education District 1 (YK1) staff and teachers will be required to be fully immunized by Nov. 30 after a new policy was passed by the school board on Tuesday night.
Public school board trustees supported a motion during an Oct. 12 regular board meeting that will direct superintendent Cindi Vaselenak to create an administrative procedure and have district employees get the shots by the end of November.
The board wants to ensure that health and safety protocols are in place similar to the territorial government as it relates to employees working with children and vulnerable people.
According to the motion passed, Vaselenak will outline a timeline and criteria for those who are required to get the vaccine.
“I’m in the process now of developing what that is going to look like,” Vaselenak said. “I will be modelling off the GNWT vaccine policy, but it will be modified to reflect our district. The intent is that all employees submit a record of double vaccination by Nov. 30.”
She added that her work will include reviewing GNWT vaccine guidelines as well as consulting other vaccine policies that are publicly available in other jurisdictions, such as British Columbia and Alberta.
The adopted motion states that employees who are unable to be vaccinated will be accommodated.
“There will be medical exemptions, but that would be the case of any health-related matter,” Vaselenak said. “If there is a situation where an employee couldn’t be vaccinated due to medical reasons, they would submit documents to support that and would be required to wear PPE (personal protective equipment) and get regular Covid testing.”
Vaselenak said the school board will have to get a legal opinion on what happens if employees refuse the vaccine, but noted that employees “would also be given an option of taking leave without pay.”
The final document will be vetted by a lawyer and the Northwest Territories Teachers Association. It will then be posted to the Yk1 website.
Vaselenak said the biggest concern at the school district is young children who still can’t receive the vaccine.
“Our primary concern is ages four to 12 as they still can’t get vaccinated and are particularly vulnerable,” she said.
All NWT school board employees, with the exception of YK1 and Yellowknife Catholics Schools, are GNWT employees. They have separate collective agreements with the Northwest Territories Teachers Association.
Simone Gessler, superintendent of the Yellowknife Catholic Schools, couldn’t be reached for comment on Oct. 13.
Erin Currie, board chair with YCS, said that a similar motion is to be passed by trustees at its meeting on Oct. 20.
“We have worked collaboratively with YK1 and our board meeting next week will see us vote on a motion about it,” she said.
NNSL Media was unable to reach the Northwest Territories Teachers Association before publication.