A woman holds up a sign during a special Clark County School District meeting at the Clark County Government Center Wednesday, Sept. 1, 2021. The CCSD Board of Trustees heard public comment on a proposal to make COVID-19 vaccines mandatory for Clark County School District teachers and other employees.
Published Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021 | 9:40 a.m.
Updated Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021 | 6:40 p.m.
Related Content
Clark County School District trustees said they will eventually require employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19, handing down the decision after a seven-hour meeting that ended early today.
The mandate passed 5-1, with trustee Danielle Ford voting no and trustee Katie Williams — who recently posted, then deleted, an anti-mandate Tweet — absent. The meeting ended at nearly 1 a.m.
The mandate will need to be negotiated and refined with employee unions, Superintendent Jesus Jara said, so most details, including when it would go into effect, are to be determined.
About 67% of of CCSD’s roughly 42,000 employees have submitted proof of vaccination against the virus, district officials said.
"If our workforce is ill, if our workforce transmits the disease to other colleagues, if our workforce infects our students ... we fail to help our students achieve academically, which is what we've been told today time and time again and what we know is the item that we absolutely have a responsibility to,” said Trustee Evelyn Garcia Morales, who had COVID-19 last year.
As of Wednesday, there had been 1,651 reported COVID-19 cases in the district this school year, including 671 employees, according to CCSD data. The district says it wants students to stay in school for full-time, in-person learning this year, and vaccination is one of the tools to do so.
Most speakers, including many who identified themselves as Clark County teachers, assailed required shots as infringing on their medical autonomy and freedom of choice.
“Even if it was a jelly sandwich, you have no right to make us take it,” Mindy Robinson told the board.
One woman likened vaccination as a condition of employment to sexual coercion. Others aligned vaccine mandates with tyranny, dictatorship and the kinds of medical experimentation atrocities of the Holocaust now barred by the Nuremberg Code.
One man who said anyone who voted for the mandate would be removed from office, with their faces on billboards.
“I envision all of you in Nazi uniforms,” he said.
Representatives from the Clark County Education Association questioned the district’s ability to implement the mandate and handle fallout, like educators quitting during a shortage of permanent and substitute teachers.
“To be clear, we support all efforts to make our schools, staff and students as safe as possible, including (with) vaccines,” but a mandate could have unintended consequences, said union president Marie Neisess.
While the speakers were overwhelmingly and sometimes boisterously against vaccines, some pleaded for shots.
A mother said her teenage daughter, a competitive swimmer with a 4.25 grade point average, caught COVID-19 in February. The girl suffered blinding migraines, heart and nerve damage, and still battles "long COVID," a term describing the lingering symptoms of the disease.
She has since been vaccinated, and is terrified of the idea of getting the disease again.
Cheyenne High student Francisco Flores said the people he sees complaining about vaccines, or masks, don't walk the halls at his school.
“If you're able to get vaccinated without a legitimate excuse and you still haven't gotten the vaccine this far into the pandemic, you're the problem,” he said. “By not wearing a mask and not being vaccinated, you are robbing the seniors of our last prom, our graduation, sports events, assemblies, clubs, activities and being able to socialize with our peers.”
Fikisha Miller, the district’s chief labor negotiator, said giving the superintendent the authority to craft a vaccine mandate launches a process. The requirement is not immediate.
She also said a mandate isn’t coercive, because employees are free to quit and find jobs elsewhere, or persuade their unions to negotiate the best terms.
“Before we let our emotions overwhelm our intellect, please understand that there is a lot of consideration on both sides. We have to keep our operational functionality,” she said. “Teachers walking out, bus drivers quitting like in Chicago, that has to be avoided.”
Ford listed several criticisms of the district’s broader pandemic response and wondered why the vaccine decision wasn't at a higher level, like county or state government. And she said employees clearly weren't happy and the unions should have been invited to the conversation earlier.
“There is a world where I would support this if — if — we didn't have such a severe staff shortage,” she said. The audience that was still there at midnight cheered her opposition.
Trustee Lola Brooks said Jara won’t admit it but that he needed the board to back him up on staff vaccines “so that he doesn't have to take all the heat by himself.” The audience cheered that, too, although they jeered when Brooks supported vaccination.
Other government agencies and private businesses, meanwhile, are increasingly requiring employees to get vaccinated. Among them: The U.S. military and other federal employers, Facebook, CVS, Delta Airlines, Walmart and the Walt Disney Company.
Locally, MGM Resorts International, one of Nevada’s largest employers, is requiring employees to be vaccinated or submit to weekly testing. AEG Presents, a major tour and festival promoter, announced shows at venues it owns will require proof of vaccination to attend. The Las Vegas Raiders are also requiring fans be vaccinated to attend home games at Allegiant Stadium.
Jara said CCSD’s rule won’t go into effect if they're going to see a staff exodus, and that's why it needs to be bargained with unions.
“I've heard you loud and clear,” he said.
