A Central Okanagan Public Schools’ board member has brought forward the motion of mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for staff within their school district.
The notice of motion was seen at Wednesday night’s trustee board meeting.
“I’m really concerned about the safety of everybody in our school district,” Norah Bowman told Global News on Thursday.
“In two weeks on (January) 26th, if the motion is seconded, then we would debate whether or not to have a vaccine mandate for all SD23 employees, which includes trustees.”
The Central Okanagan Teachers’ Association president said, if the mandate does get passed, the association will not oppose the ruling.
“(The association) has never stood in the way of the mandate. We did have concerns at the beginning, I still do. I think this should have been a provincial call, rather than leaving it up to 60 different school districts,” said Susan Bauhart.
“However, I do support the motion.”
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The motion does have opposition, though, as a letter opposing a vaccination mandate for staff was sent to trustees.
The letter, allegedly signed by more than 120 Central Okanagan employees including teachers, was included with Wednesday night’s school board meeting agenda.
Around 30 pages in length, the letter includes many statements of misinformation, such as, “More recent evidence has been disclosed that confirms the vaccines are not effective and are not safe. In fact, they are killing more people than they are helping.”
“Even if one assumes that the vaccines were 100 per cent effective, which the evidence suggests is not the case, the data shows that the vaccines kill two people to save one life,” the letter states.
The letter references the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, an American self-reporting website that is not fact-checked or double-sourced. The site is co-managed by the CDC and FDA.
Central Okanagan Public Schools’ board trustee Norah Bowman, who brought forward the motion, said there’s an avenue for the unvaccinated staff to possibly stay unvaccinated and still be employed, if the mandate is implemented.
“If an employee is not vaccinated, they have the choice of a rapid test twice a week, at a centralized location. They have to find the time to do that or leave without pay,” said Bowman.
The school board invites parents and residents to attend their next meeting. The board said healthy discourse about the topic is welcomed.
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