Catholic school board staff could be fired for refusing COVID-19 tests

Ottawa's English-language Catholic school board has released its own mandatory COVID-19 vaccination and testing policy, and staff who fail to abide by it could be fired.

The Ottawa Catholic School Board (OCSB) put out the policy just as Ontario's deadline for staff to provide vaccine attestations came into effect.

The OCSB says 93.5 per cent of its 6,117 workers are fully vaccinated. Of the remaining workers,seven have received medical exemptions and 391 have either not submitted attestations, aren't fully vaccinated or may be on some kind of leave, the board said.

School board vaccine mandates do require accommodation for employees who are not vaccinated for medical reasons or due to religious exemptions.

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Tom D'Amico, the Catholic board's director of education, said the new policy will include a disciplinary process that could result in staff being placed on unpaid leave or even terminated if they fail to abide by the mandate.

"If they do not comply with mandated rapid antigen testing,or if they do not comply with our other mitigating factors proper hand hygiene, wearing a mask, etc.they can't be in our schools," D'Amico said.

"We anticipate we'll have a very small number ... but those individuals will be removed from our schools if they don't take part in rapid antigen testing."

The Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association (OECTA) has said it's in favour of mandatory vaccine policies that both require increased precautions from people who aren'tvaccinated and accommodate employees with protected exemptions.

OECTA president Barb Dobrowolskisaid the union would have a legal requirement to represent any member who faced termination, and each case would be reviewed based on its facts.

The Catholic board's policy would also allow for staff to be assigned different responsibilities if their circumstances potentially placed them incontact with someone vulnerable to COVID-19, D'Amico said.

He used the example of an educational assistant working one-on-one with an unvaccinated child who may have a mask exemption.If that education assistant were to refuse to be vaccinated, D'Amico said the board could transfer them to a different-but-related assignment or another school.

WATCH | Director of Education Tom D'Amico discusses the board's policy:

Ottawa Catholic School Board gives teachers a choice vaccination or twice-weekly testing

3 years ago

Duration 1:04

Tom DAmico, director of education with the Ottawa Catholic School Board, says the organization has tried to find a way to strike a balance between keeping students safe and keeping employees who arent vaccinated in their jobs.

Vaccination 'one piece' of layered approach

D'Amico saidemployees working in the virtual school won't require rapid antigen testing, and that many of those who aren't vaccinated aren't in "classroom-facing" positions.

Existing public health measures likecohorting, masking, hand hygiene and improved ventilation will all be part of protecting students younger than 12 who aren't yet eligible for a vaccine, D'Amico said.

"Vaccination is an important part of our layered approach, but it's one piece of our layered approach," he said.

The board policy also applies to visitors to schools, including coaches, D'Amico said.

Earlier this September, the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB)mandatedteachers and staff have at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine by Sept. 30 or submit to rapid antigen testing twice a week.

While no one from the board was made available for an interview, the OCDSB released statistics earlier this week showing 90.4 per cent of its almost 12,000 staff have been fully vaccinated.

As of Sept. 28, there weresix individuals with medical exemptions and 631 staff who had not provided their attestation.

The OCDSBpolicy also includes the possibility of unpaid leave for employees who refuse the COVID-19 vaccine for "personal reasons" not protected under the human rights code.