Close to 1,000 unvaccinated TDSB staff still at work as they await medical, religious exemptions

The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) has hundreds of unvaccinated employees working with children while the board reviews their COVID-19 vaccine exemption requests, a spokesperson confirmed Wednesday.

As of Nov. 21, the number of staff seeking medical or faith-based exemptions was just over 1,000. TDSB spokesperson Ryan Bird confirms with CityNews that 920 of these unvaccinated faculty members are, in fact, working day to day with students.

“We continue to review medical and creed-based exemption requests; however, they’re complex and in many cases have required us to gather more information from the employees,” Bird said in an email.

The TDSB split up the number of staff currently seeking exemptions into two categories: central and school. According to updated figures, there are presently 104 central and 565 school members seeking a creed exemption, and 69 central members (355 in-school staff) awaiting word on a medical exemption. That accounts for 920 unvaccinated employees working with students in person.

“Final decisions on many of these requests will be shared in the upcoming weeks,” Bird said. “In the meantime, it’s important to note that any unvaccinated staff member must meet the Ministry of Education requirement to conduct rapid antigen testing three times per week.”

As of Nov. 25, the TDSB says 88.4 per cent of staff are fully vaccinated while 1.1 per cent are partially vaccinated. Over 250 staff members are working remotely, while four medical exemptions have been approved to date. Staff who, by Nov. 19, have received one dose of a two-dose COVID-19 vaccine have an additional month to get their second shot.

Bird says that unvaccinated staff must undergo daily rapid testing while the TDSB reviews their requests — a measure that most employees have been following. If their exemption request is denied, the TDSB states members have 45 days to comply with the procedure or be placed on a non-disciplinary administrative leave of absence without pay.

Under the board’s mandatory vaccine policy, about 330 unvaccinated staff were placed on administrative leave on Nov. 22.

“Since the beginning of the pandemic, the TDSB has tried to balance sharing as much information as possible with our families, while respecting the privacy of our students and staff,” the school board noted.

“Out of respect for the privacy of individual staff, we will not be naming these staff or identifying the reason behind their absence and we appreciate your understanding.”

Toronto public health declared COVID-19 outbreaks at five more schools on Wednesday. An outbreak is designated when two or more cases have been identified within the buildings.

The schools, which remain open, include Holy Rosary Catholic school in Forest Hill and Dorset Park and Knob Hill Public Schools in Scarborough.

As of Wednesday, the province recorded 185 COVID-19 cases in schools — 167 of which involved students. There are now 13 outbreak-related school closures in Ontario. Just under 16 per cent of schools (763) are reporting at least one case of the virus.

Most cumulative cases in Ontario are in those under 20, with just over 2,000 confirmed to date.