CCSD Superintendent Jesus Jara speaks to the media regarding the first day of in-person school, Monday March 1, 2021.
Friday, Aug. 27, 2021 | 12:51 p.m.
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The Clark County School District board of trustees will hold a special meeting Sept. 1 to consider requiring all district employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
It’s not clear how many of the school system’s 42,000 employees have been vaccinated, but it’s apparently not enough, the district suggests. When school started in early August, only 41% of the staff were fully vaccinated — although some hadn’t reported their status.
The district says in a proposed resolution that it wants students to stay in school for full-time, in-person learning this year, and is relying on several strategies to minimize disease spread. Those include: disinfection and hygiene, masking, testing and isolation, social distancing, and vaccination.
About 300,000 Clark County School District students started the school year Aug. 9, returning to learning in the classroom after most of the 2020-21 academic year was conducted digitally. In the final weeks of the previous school year, some students were taught in a hybrid model, where they were on campus two days a week and on their computers at home the remainder of the school week.
“Notwithstanding this effort and the significant number of employees who have been vaccinated to date, several thousand employees are believed to not yet be vaccinated which is a public safety concern,” the resolution states.
There have been 1,338 reported COVID-19 cases in the district since July, including 755 students, according to CCSD data. About 100,000 children ages 12-17 are vaccinated statewide.
The district will consider medical and religious exemptions but also how to achieve full compliance. The discussion could include “progressive discipline for personnel who do not timely comply with the vaccination requirement and/or submit appropriate documentation of vaccination status.”
The meeting starts at 5 p.m. at the Clark County Government Center. Staff vaccines are the only business item on the agenda.
