STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — New York City’s controversial mandate that requires all public school employees to get the coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine will take effect at 5 p.m. on Friday.
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced in August that every city Department of Education (DOE) employee will need to get the COVID-19 vaccine this school year. The mandate includes teachers, principals, custodians, administrative staff, food service workers, school safety agents, central office staff, those working at charter schools, and pre-K teachers working in community-based organizations contracted with the DOE.
The initial deadline for employees to get the jab was this past Monday.
COURT PROCEEDINGS
However, a temporary injunction was placed on the mandate last Friday evening following a federal lawsuit filed by a group of New York City teachers seeking to block the requirement.
Earlier this week, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit shot down the bid by hundreds of city teachers for an injunction to halt the inoculation requirement — allowing New York City to move forward with the school vaccine mandate.
De Blasio said on NY1′s Inside City Hall on this past Monday that all city school employees will have until the end of day Friday to get their vaccine and show proof -- so that by Monday, Oct. 4, all educators and staff in buildings will be vaccinated.
“We’re going to give folks until the end of Friday, the folks who work at our public schools and you heard the good news today, we already have a very high level of vaccination across all the professions in our public schools, we expect to be hearing more and more that will confirm even higher levels of vaccination that we already confirmed,” said de Blasio.
Dozens of parents and former staffers on Monday gathered outside PS 56 in Rossville to rally against the city's mandate that all New York City public school employees must get vaccinated agaist the coronavirus. (Staten Island Advance/Erik Bascome)
Hundreds of teachers who oppose the mandate filed an emergency application with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking an injunction to block the order requiring all public-school employees to be inoculated or face losing their job.
RALLIES ON STATEN ISLAND
Groups throughout Staten Island rallied against the controversial policy on Monday, with parents and other members of school communities voicing their fervent belief that teachers and other school staff should not be forced to choose between their job and their medical freedom.
De Blasio said all adults working in schools will be required to get their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine and show proof by Friday at 5 p.m. or risk losing their job.
“If you have not gotten that first dose by Friday, 5 o’clock, we will assume you are not coming to work on Monday, and you will not be paid starting Monday, and we will fill your role with a substitute or an alternative employee,” de Blasio said.
As of last Friday, the DOE had granted medical and religious exemptions to 530 staff members for the mandate, according to a report by the New York Daily News.
In order to provide the DOE vaccination status, employees must upload proof of vaccination through the agency’s portal at vaccine.schools.nyc. Users will be asked to sign in to upload proof, which can be an image of the vaccination card, the NYS Excelsior Pass, or another government record.
ENOUGH STAFF?
“The courts have cleared the way for the city to begin enforcing the city’s vaccine mandate for school employees,” Mulgrew said in a statement. “The city’s estimate is that 97 percent of the teachers have been vaccinated, but according to our recent survey of UFT chapter leaders, only about one-third believe that as of now their schools can open without disruption, given the potential shortage of unvaccinated personnel, including school aides and security personnel...We will be working with our members to ensure, as far as possible, that our schools can open safely as the vaccine mandate is enforced.”
