AURORA | Aurora Public School officials say that 96.3% of its licensed employees and 88.8% of all staff have provided proof of vaccination by the district’s deadline, though final data is still being finalized.
The district announced in May that all employees would need to be vaccinated against COVID-19 in the fall school year once one of the vaccinations received full approval from the FDA. The Pfizer vaccine was fully approved in late August, and APS employees were given until Oct. 7 to provide proof of vaccination.
Of licensed staff — teachers, principals, and special providers such as social workers and psychologists — 96.3% were vaccinated by the deadline, spokesperson Corey Christiansen told the Sentinel.
Of all APS’ 5,582 employees, 88.8% have been vaccinated, and 3.2% have an approved exemption.
“The vast majority of those who haven’t provided proof of vaccination are temporary employees on an Agreement for Services or volunteers,” Christiansen said in an email.
Employees were permitted to request an exemption due to disability, religious reasons or medical reasons. Employees whose requests were approved met with district staff to come up with accommodations, such as social distancing or regular COVID-19 testing.
Staff who have not met the vaccination or exemption requirement will be contacted by human resources and given until Nov. 22 to catch up, Christiansen said in an email. “If the employee fails to meet the November deadline, they will be included on the December Board of Education agenda as a recommendation for termination,” he said.
That’s a ridiculously high number for the exemptions and vastly higher than typical for exemption requests for all the other vaccines that have been required for years, but congrats to the 96% who got vaccinated and will actually help keep our school system safe. Thank you.
Excellent! Good job APS!