Are Triangle schools requiring teachers to be vaccinated? What about COVID testing?
As parents across North Carolina send their kids back to school, the recent rise in COVID-19 infections has renewed concerns about the safety of in-person instruction and whether schools will be able to prevent disruptions to learning this fall.
Since falling in June to levels not seen since the beginning of the pandemic, daily new infections are increasing once again.
While children are at lower risk of being hospitalized from COVID-19, they are at higher risk for spreading the more transmissible delta variant — the variant fueling the ongoing rise in infections and hospitalizations.
That’s because the variant is more likely to spread among the unvaccinated, and vaccines haven’t yet been approved for children under the age of 12, The N&O reported.
Keeping that mind, several school boards have voted in recent weeks to put in place or restore mask mandates for students and teachers.
But what about vaccines? Are school districts requiring teachers to be vaccinated as well? Do teachers have to report their vaccination status to schools or have regular COVID-19 testing?
The News & Observer asked Triangle-area school districts what their policies are. Here’s what they said.
Do teachers need to be vaccinated?
Teachers with the Wake, Durham, Orange and Johnston County school districts, as well as Chapel Hill-Carrboro public schools are not currently required to be vaccinated, each of the districts told The N&O in emails this week.
Most districts didn’t say whether they are considering requiring vaccines for teachers and staff, or had ruled out a potential vaccine mandate. The Wake County Public School System isn’t requiring teachers to be vaccinated right now, but is “continually evaluating all safety measures,” said spokesperson Lisa Luten.
Durham Public Schools also has not ruled out the possibility of requiring vaccination, spokesperson Chip Sudderth said. “We are encouraged by the number of teachers and staff who participated in clinics starting when K-12 employees were prioritized by the state,” Sudderth added.
And while Orange County Schools isn’t currently requiring teachers to be vaccinated, new health and safety guidelines approved by the board of education during an Aug. 16 meeting would make vaccination mandatory for all employees once the vaccines are approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and are no longer being administered under emergency use authorization.
(Employees would have 30 days to get vaccinated within being notified of the requirement. Those with an “approved accommodation” cleared by the district’s human resources department would be exempt.)
Will teachers need to report their vaccination status or get tested for COVID-19?
Wake, Durham and Johnston County school districts are not requiring teachers or staff to report their vaccination status, the districts said.
The only district requiring its employees to report their status is Orange County Schools. The school board approved the new policy and guidelines this week.
In Durham, when it comes to requiring teachers to report if they’ve been vaccinated, Durham Public Schools “must balance the public health interest with employees’ right to confidentiality about medical information,” Sudderth said. At the same time, if a DPS employee is determined to be a close contact with someone who tests positive for COVID-19, they’ll be asked to show proof of vaccination to return to school without a mandatory 10-day quarantine, he said.
Johnston County Schools might also ask staff who have been a close contact with someone who tests positive for the virus to share their vaccination status “to help with contact tracing efforts,” said spokesperson Caitlin Furr.
At Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools, staff who haven’t been fully vaccinated or choose not to report their vaccination status will be required to undergo weekly COVID-19 testing, spokesperson Jeff Nash said.
Are school districts doing anything to boost vaccinations?
Many school districts are holding vaccination clinics to make shots more accessible.
Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools held a vaccine clinic on Aug. 18. Nash said the district believes “the convenience and the marketing of these clinics has contributed significantly to the number of people getting vaccinated in our school district and community.”
Durham and Orange County Schools are also expected to hold clinics at schools.
Johnston County isn’t offering any incentives right now, but Furr noted that under current policy, vaccination allows close contacts to avoid mandatory quarantine if they’re exposed to someone who tests positive.
“This isn’t necessarily an incentive, but it does help with ensuring our staff doesn’t have to miss as many days at work if they are exposed,” Furr said.
This story was originally published August 23, 2021 at 5:40 AM.
