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By Drew Lawson
The Times 

Is school staff getting vaccine or quitting?

Lincoln County superintendents to make call on exemptions

 

Last updated 9/23/2021 at 2:56pm



DAVENPORT—A mandate issued by the state in August that required all public and private K-12 school staff to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or risk losing their job has forced teachers, staff and administration in east Lincoln County to make some tough personal decisions.

The deadline for school staff to be fully vaccinated is Oct. 18. The Department of Health has defined someone as fully vaccinated when they’ve received two doses of either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine or one dose of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine and waited two weeks for the vaccine to take effect.

Because the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine doses must be taken two to three weeks apart, the single-dose Johnson and Johnson vaccine is the only vaccine left for unvaccinated school staff members to take and meet the deadline.

Staff would have to be inoculated with the Johnson and Johnson vaccine by Oct. 4.

The exception to the vaccine mandate comes when a staff member files for either a religious or medical exemption. The decision is then left to the school district about whether to accept the application for an exemption.

Medical exemptions must come with a signed note of recommendation from “an appropriate health care of rehabilitation professional,” according to documentation from the state Department of Education.

Religious exemptions must come with reasoning for the basis of a religious accommodation request and why that conflicts with receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.

Typically, a school district’s HR department handles that process, but in Lincoln County, some districts are too small to have an HR department. That leaves the final decision to one person: the superintendent.

In Davenport, superintendent Jim Kowalkowski doesn’t anticipate losing any staff over the mandate, and he hopes that remains the same.

“Our preliminary numbers indicated that 71% of our teachers and staff are fully vaccinated, and I expect that number to go up,” Kowalkowski said. “I can’t give out specific individuals for privacy reasons, but we have had some apply for religious and medical exemptions.”

The school district presently employs 91 staff, indicating roughly 65 employees are vaccinated.

Because the district doesn’t have an HR department, Kowalkowski will be making the decision about whether to accept or deny an application for a religious or medical exemption himself. He said he’ll consult the district’s attorney for legal guidance throughout the process of exemption examination.

“If someone tries to get an exemption based purely on political nature, I would deny that,” Kowalkowski said. “But I’ll consider all the applications and hope to conduct this with the highest of integrity.”

The process of potential termination is just that…a process, Kowalkowski said. It’s one he doesn’t anticipate having to go through with any staff member, and he hopes it stays that way.

Worry about losing staff may be more pronounced in the Reardan-Edwall School District, where superintendent Eric Sobotta said he’s concerned the district may lose a few employees over the mandate.

“I am concerned we may lose a few staff,” Sobotta said. “I’m hopeful we won’t lose any, but we probably will lose a few.”

102 staff are employed by the district, and Sobotta said roughly 70 will have turned in proof of vaccination by the deadline.

Reardan does have an HR department, but the final decision about accepting or denying a religious or medical exemption will be Sobotta’s to make.

“Our HR department screens them, then they’re forwarded to me,” Sobotta said.

He added that if an exemption application needs more information, he allows employees a chance to add clarity before a final decision is made.

Harrington superintendent Wayne Massie said he’s not worried about losing staff to the mandate, noting staff often leaves for greener pastures or what they consider better jobs every year anyway.

“Everybody has choices to make, one way or another,” Massie said.

Massie declined to indicate how many staff members of the roughly 40 employed by the district are fully vaccinated, citing privacy concerns. With no personnel director in the district, he’s in charge of approving religious or medical exemption applications with the help of the district’s Spokane-based attorney.

“If we lose people, we lose people,” Massie said. “But we have people find better opportunities every year, and sometimes we gain fabulous employees that want to try something new in Harrington.”

Author Bio

Drew Lawson, Editor

Author photo

Drew Lawson is the editor of the Davenport Times. He is a graduate of Eastern Washington University.

 

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