Employees and volunteers at all schools in Drayton Valley and Breton will have to provide proof of vaccination or a negative Covid-19 test when school resumes after the Christmas break.
The Wild Rose school board approved the move at its regular meeting on Tuesday morning. The St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic School Division made a similar decision earlier this month.
The move does not include students in either school division and will only apply to parents if they are acting as volunteers.
The Wild Rose motion came after an hour long debate and was not unanimous. Board chair Daryl Scott said he was unhappy that the board had been left to make a decision on an issue that should have been handled by the province.
“We are an education board, not a health board,” he said. “We are not health experts, we are educators.”
Scott said he was personally vaccinated. However he could not support a motion where felt that staff were being placed in a position where they had no choice if they wished to keep their jobs.
“Get vaccinated or do a rapid test or you don’t have a job. That’s not choice,” he said.
Scott’s view was in the minority. Trustee Charlene Bearhead said that she wished the pandemic wasn’t happening. However, she felt that the board had an obligation to do the best that could with the information available. Rapid testing will be available free of charge to staff, and those that choose unpaid leave would be able to resume employment at a later date.
Superintendent Brad Volkman said that a recent survey of school divisions staff suggested about 78 percent were fully vaccinated, however, he couldn’t be absolutely confident in that figure since not all staff had responded. He said there could be as many as 100 employees who might require rapid testing. That number included substitute teachers and casual staff. The division had obtained 2,400 free rapid tests, which he said should last about three months.
Trustee Mae Tryon, who represents the Breton area, joined Scott in voting against the motion.
