Staffers at IL schools have until Sunday to get COVID shots. How are our districts doing?
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COVID-19 vaccination, testing requirements
Here are additional stories about the state of Illinois’ vaccination requirements for school staffers
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Staffers at IL schools have until Sunday to get COVID shots. How are our districts doing?
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With just days until the deadline for Illinois school staff to get a COVID vaccine, some metro-east school districts are still working to figure out how many of their staff members still have to get their shots.
Originally, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced that school and hospital employees would have until Sept. 5 to either receive their first or only dose of the COVID vaccine. That deadline was extended by two weeks until Sunday, after organizations including Illinois Health and Hospital Association, Illinois Education Association, Illinois Federation of Teachers, Illinois Association of School Administrators and Illinois Principals Association requested more time.
Employees who are unable or unwilling to receive the vaccine will be required to get tested for COVID at least once a week. The Illinois Department of Public Health and the Illinois State Board of Education may test more frequently, based on local spread.
Many local school districts hosted voluntary vaccine clinics for their staff members. While those clinics gave districts some insight into staff vaccination rates, not all staff attended. Some may have qualified to get vaccinated earlier because of their age or any health conditions, while others may have found it more convenient to get vaccinated at another time. Some may have waited to get their shot.
Belleville Township High School 201 Superintendent Brian Mentzer said the district’s estimations were still somewhat fluid and that he anticipated the rate would go up before the Sunday deadline. At the low end, he estimated between 86% and 88% of the district’s staff had already been vaccinated.
On Wednesday, Mentzer said testing procedure instructions would be sent to staff Thursday or Friday, including specific testing sites.
Collinsville CUSD 10 reported on Wednesday that 81% of staff were vaccinated.
“This number changes every day, throughout the day, as people continue to get and report vaccinations,” said Public Relations Liaison Kimberly Collins in an email.
Other metro-east districts, including East St. Louis 189, Edwardsville CUSD 7 and O’Fallon Township High School 203 said Wednesday that they were still collecting information from staff and did not have data to report yet.
Edwardsville Superintendent Patrick Shelton said the district was still waiting for more guidance from the Illinois State Board of Education as far as what type of testing employees should use, if there’s a weekly deadline and how to accommodate those who file for medical or religious exemptions with the governor’s executive order. Shelton said he didn’t know if that guidance would be provided before Sunday.
For outsourced positions, such as bus drivers, Shelton said the companies the district contracts with were responsible for collecting data for their employees, but that they were working collaboratively with the district.
East St. Louis 189 has the largest school staff of any district in St. Clair County, including some outsourced positions like bus drivers. When asked, Executive Director of Communications Sydney Stigge-Kaufman said the district would meet the governor’s deadline.
“We do not need an extension,” she said in an email. “We will be ready.”
Madison County Regional Superintendent Robert Werden said the state’s regional superintendents met in Springfield Wednesday.
“One of the concerns that was voiced at the regional superintendent’s meeting was concern on the amount of available tests,” he said. “We’re afraid there’s going to be a potential shortage of testing materials because of the huge demand now that this mandate has created.”
Another concern is how the mandate could worsen already-existing staff shortages. In addition to an ongoing teacher shortage, Werden said all of the school districts in Madison County were facing a “critical shortage” of bus drivers and other support staff.
“I’m really hoping that it doesn’t cause us to lose employees,” Werden said.
This story was originally published September 18, 2021 at 6:00 AM.