BRADFORD, Vt. — The Orange East Supervisory Union Board voted on Tuesday evening to require that employees be vaccinated against COVID-19 by March 7.
The board instituted the requirement in a 6-3 vote with one abstention during a special meeting held via Zoom.
Under the mandate, employees may apply for a religious or medical exemptions. If granted, they will be required to be tested for COVID-19 at least once a week.
OESU’s requirement will apply to some 800 employees, substitutes, coaches, volunteers and other temporary employees of the supervisory union’s schools in Bradford, Newbury, East Corinth, Wells River and Thetford.
In supporting the mandate, board member Charlie Buttrey, of Thetford, echoed public health officials: The vaccines are safe and effective at reducing the severity of illness should people contract COVID-19.
“We know it works,” he said of vaccination.
In supporting the measure, Buttrey was joined by Megan Snider, of Thetford; Donna Pluta, of Thetford; Hank Buermeyer, of Topsham; Danielle Corti, of Newbury; and Angela Colbeth, of Bradford. Those opposed included Stacy Emerson, of Topsham; Jason Rogers, of Topsham; and Chelsey Perry, of Bradford.
Board members Judy Murray, of Wells River, and Allison Ingerson, of Groton, were absent and Board Chairwoman Angeline Alley, of Wells River, abstained.
The original motion put forward by Alley also included an exemption on philosophical grounds. But an amendment from Buttrey eliminated that piece.
“This philosophical exemption is just loosey-goosey,” said Buttrey, a Lebanon-based personal injury attorney. “Why not just not have a mandate at all?”
Employees are required to submit exemption requests by March 4, according to a Wednesday email that Melanie Rhoads, OESU’s director of human resources, sent to all employees.
In implementing the vaccine mandate, OESU joins several other school districts in Vermont, including Hartford and Windsor-area towns in the Windsor Southeast Supervisory Union.
New Hampshire public schools are barred by a state law, enacted last summer, from instituting such mandates.
During Tuesday’s approximately half-hour meeting, Rhoads presented the results of a survey of employees’ vaccination status.
Of the 350 people who responded to the survey, 61% have been vaccinated and 39% have not.
Of those who’ve been vaccinated, about half have gotten their booster doses. OESU will not be requiring a booster, at least to start.
The survey also indicated that most employees would not resign due to the mandate, although the effect on employment might vary by school, Rhoads said.
For example, more than 10% of respondents from Blue Mountain Union School said they would resign if OESU implemented a mandate with religious and medical exemptions.
None of the respondents from Bradford Elementary said they would quit, but about 5% said they might.
In a January meeting and in letters to the board submitted ahead of the board’s vote, several employees voiced their opposition to the requirement and said that they would quit rather than be vaccinated.
Those voices were silent on Tuesday, however. The board invited public comment only following the vote.
In a response to a question in the online chat about the timing of the public comment after the vote, Alley said, “My comment to that is that this is a board meeting in public. We received all of your letters. … This really comes down to the board.”
Nora Doyle-Burr can be reached at ndoyleburr@vnews.com or 603-727-3213.
