Horizon School Division Approves Immunization Policy, Parents Not Affected – Lethbridge | The Canadian News

Beginning December 18, Horizon School Division staff will be required to provide proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test twice a week before attending classes, more than a month after the regulations of other divisions school will go into effect.

“We take the policy process, and usually within that process, a first draft is put together and sent to the board of trustees,” said Horizon Superintendent Wilco Tymensen. “Then it goes to public consultation.”

But new policy it will not affect everyone who enters a Horizon school building.

“Building employees, who are in the building with children or if it is volunteers who work with children, (the policy) would apply to them. But parents who come to a one-on-one meeting with a teacher or drop off their children will not apply to them, ”Tymensen said.

That differs from other COVID-19 rules, such as the Holy Spirit Catholic Schools Division, which requires all visitors to comply.

Lethbridge School Division only provides parents with an exemption if they attend a facility related to their children’s education and no students are present.

Tymensen said the decision was made after collecting parent feedback as part of the division’s policy process.

“They had some concerns about not being able to get into the building at all,” he said.

Horizon will also provide COVID-19 testing for unvaccinated staff, for an indeterminate period of time, even though the policy states that testing will be done ‘at the employee’s expense in accordance with this administrative procedure.’

“They may live an hour and a half from a pharmacy, so not only do they pay the cost of the test, but there is actually a three-hour drive associated with that, so we recognized that the problem may be outside. from the clerk, ”Tymensen said.

Global News asked the public and Catholic school divisions in Lethbridge for an update on their vaccination mandates, including the percentage of staff who are fully vaccinated.

No division provided that update, and the public division cited a desire to keep the process as confidential as possible.