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Temporary exemptions for unvaccinated Toronto District School Board staff

TORONTO — The Toronto District School Board is granting temporary exemptions for roughly 290 unvaccinated staff who otherwise would be placed on administrative leave until it can find temporary staff to fill the positions.

In a memo sent to families, the school board says it continues to implement its COVID-19 vaccination procedure to support the health and safety of students, staff and school communities.

The vaccine policy states that staff who have disclosed they are not vaccinated are to be placed on non-disciplinary administrative leave without pay, effective today.

As part of this plan, the board says it’s relying on occasional or casual staff to fill in for unvaccinated workers but, like other school boards across Ontario, it is “seeing lower levels of occasional/casual staff taking available jobs.”

In an effort to ensure there is minimal impact on students’ learning, well-being and safety, the school board says it is granting temporary exemptions to about 290 staff out of the approximately 620 unvaccinated workers until it can “adequately fill these positions on a case-by-case basis.”

The rest of the unvaccinated staff have been placed on administrative leave.

The board notes that all staff, including those with temporary exemptions, are continuing to meet all Ministry of Education requirements including regular rapid antigen testing three times per week for the unvaccinated.

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.