School boards will soon disclose the percentage of staff vaccinated against COVID-19 as required by the province.
Both the public and Catholic school boards were unable to provide an exact number of staff vaccinated at this time. However, Lambton Kent District School Board Director of Education John Howitt said a "high percentage" of staff have already been vaccinated against the virus.
Earlier this month, the province issued a vaccination mandate for those who work in high-risk settings, where individuals would have to show proof of vaccination or agree to regular antigen testing.
"Anecdotally we believe we have a high percentage of our staff vaccinated already," said Howitt.
As part of the vaccination policy for schools and licensed child care settings, data will be made public by September 15.
St. Clair Catholic District School Board Director of Education Deb Crawford said the reporting system is still being put together but aggregate, depersonalized data will be posted to the school board's website.
"We're hoping that by using some of our current Human Resources software, we're going to be able to gather that data in a confidential way and be able to create a report that we'll be sending to the [Ministry of Education] on a regular basis and as well, reporting on our board website."
Howitt said the vaccine policy extends to all staff, including bus drivers, and adults who are regularly in schools (such as speech therapists). However, he said it's unclear if the policy extends to volunteers who help with the student nutrition program.
"We strongly encourage vaccination for all -- not just our staff but anybody eligible," said Howitt. "It is a scientifically proven strategy to help us return to our new normal."
As for those who are not vaccinated, Crawford said rapid testing kits will be sent to school boards for employee use. Regular testing may be required twice per week.
"We're waiting to get further information from the Ministry on exactly how this is going to look," she said.
Crawford said school boards have been asked to take a consistent approach to reporting vaccination rates and keep it as simple as possible while being respectful of employee confidentiality.
-With files from Stephanie Chaves
