San Antonio ISD will require all staff to be vaccinated against COVID-19, district Superintendent Pedro Martinez told the Express-News.
SAISD appears to be the first large Texas school district to make employee vaccinations mandatory, according to the Texas Tribune.
District workers who haven’t yet received their shots are expected to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 15, the Express-News reports.
While SAISD will make exemptions for religious beliefs or medical reasons, Martinez told the newspaper he’s prepared to “talk to employees about potential separation” if they fail to meet the deadline without an exemption.
Martinez’s order comes as Gov. Greg Abbott battles with municipalities including San Antonio and several school districts over whether they can implement their own rules — such as mask and vaccine mandates — to curb the rapid spread of COVID-19.
“For us, it is about safety and stability in our classrooms,” Martinez said. “We cannot afford to have threats to those two goals.”
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This article appears in Aug 11-24, 2021.
