LET SCHOOL EMPLOYEES GET WEEKLY TESTS
When put into effect, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s unilateral decision to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations by removing the weekly testing option for California’s teachers and school employees will have a devastating impact on schools throughout the state. Although approximately 90 percent of California teachers have been vaccinated, many certificated and classified school employees are still vaccine-hesitant or outright opposed to getting this particular vaccine for personal or religious reasons. When the option to demonstrate negative weekly tests is removed, labor shortages will become severe enough to prompt school closures statewide.
California’s supporters of the vaccine mandate fail to consider the effect it will have on our state’s 1,037 school districts. Schools simply cannot remain open without enough adults on campus. There are 517,716 classified employees and 307,470 teachers who serve our 6 million public school students in grades K-12, working in public schools, and many of these employees have opted to submit weekly test results instead of receiving the vaccine. Even if only 10 percent were to remain unvaccinated when the mandate takes effect, approximately 82,000 jobs will be left vacant. Private school employees, who serve another half a million California children, will also need to choose between getting vaccinated or leaving their positions.
Even before the mandate was announced on Oct. 1, school districts were feeling the effects of the nationwide labor shortages. According to Edjoin, the leading educational employment site, there are more than 25,000 jobs posted for California schools. Many of these vacancies are for qualified teachers, but some are also for nutrition services, custodial and maintenance, campus safety, nursing, social work, athletics, contact tracing and academic support, just to name a few.
Without adequate staff in place, California students cannot be guaranteed sanitary classrooms or safe campuses, nurses’ aides to assess symptoms or specialized instructional assistance. Classrooms will go without supervision. Teams will be left without coaches. Students with disabilities will not receive the services they need.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that since February 2020, employment is down by 310,000 in local government education, by 194,000 in state government education and by 172,000 in private education. Schools are desperate to hire for positions that have been posted for months with few interested applicants. Given the circumstances, it seems like the worst time to force qualified teachers and other school employees, who are willing to submit to weekly COVID-19 testing, out of their classrooms.
Districts across the state are already struggling to find enough qualified substitutes to replace employees quarantining, showing COVID-19 symptoms, or needing time off for scheduled medical procedures or training. The Chula Vista Elementary School District boosted its daily rate for long-term substitute teachers from $180 to $283 per day in hopes of attracting new hires. Still, school administrators regularly pull staff members from other critical areas of campus to fill in as substitutes, and this can have serious consequences. When campus supervisors are directed to oversee individual classrooms, they cannot maintain schoolwide safety. When counselors fill in for sick teachers, academic guidance and mental health take a backseat. The current lack of substitutes, custodians and support staff is pushing schools to the brink of another closure, and the vaccine mandate has yet to take effect.
It is logical to assume that the education sector will experience the same employee exodus as other industries with similar mandates. In New York state alone, thousands of home health care aides, nurses and other staffers faced termination earlier this month after the governor’s deadline for mandatory vaccinations passed. About 16 percent of New York’s hospital staff, or about 72,000 of the 450,000 workers, were unvaccinated a month ago.
Nearly one-third of Chicago’s police force, approximately 3,200 officers, are at risk of being fired. Los Angeles County’s sheriff warned that the nation’s most populated county would risk losing 5 percent to 10 percent of its deputies overnight if the mandate is not reversed.
Many companies in the private sector are also wrestling with the costs and benefits of vaccine requirements. Now, both Southwest and American Airlines have eased vaccine requirements in hopes of retaining valuable employees.
The governor has neglected to address the real problem facing our schools. When the ability to show a negative test is phased out, the overwhelming shortages in education will cause massive disruptions to public and private schools. Districts cannot afford to lose any additional workers at this point; they are already dangerously understaffed. The choice is simple. We must preserve the weekly COVID-19 testing option for school employees or be prepared for schools to close, once again.
California’s teacher vaccine mandate will lead to schools closing around the state because there will not be enough adults on campus.
Miller