Bowser Announces Vaccine Mandate for DCPS and Charter Personnel and Student Athletes (over 12)

[Anonymous]

All extracurricular activities should require vaccination if the student is eligible. All extracurricular activities should be in person as much as possible and be given the same level of support in resources (time, money, effort) to make that happen - whether it is baseball or debate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hmm perhaps my child will make the basketball team then. I was preparing my “good try” speech.

Please help me understand your statement because this strikes me as incredibly racist. Are you assuming the students of color are vaccine hesitant and will not be able to play basketball because they are unvaccinated and your athletically untalented, white child now has a better chance of making the team because there will be less competition for spots on the team??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hmm perhaps my child will make the basketball team then. I was preparing my “good try” speech.

Please help me understand your statement because this strikes me as incredibly racist. Are you assuming the students of color are vaccine hesitant and will not be able to play basketball because they are unvaccinated and your athletically untalented, white child now has a better chance of making the team because there will be less competition for spots on the team??

NP but have you seen the vaccination breakdown by race? That wouldn’t be a racist assumption.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And sports teams were travelling all spring and summer on buses while other activities were either virtual or cancelled altogether.

isn't it ironic:
the activities that do not need proof of vaccination now were cancelled
the activities that now need proof of vaccination to participate were not

things that make you go Hmmm

Not following your "hmmm" train. Please explain.

My guess is that this train of thought ends up somewhere in It's a Conspiracy! world.

[Anonymous]

Glad to see Bower finally stand up to the union, which, of course, opposes this mandate. Bowser always does the right thing, after everyone else has already done it. Leading from behind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Glad to see Bower finally stand up to the union, which, of course, opposes this mandate. Bowser always does the right thing, after everyone else has already done it. Leading from behind.

You mean the same person who's response to gun violence was to proclaim "be kind day". This woman is a fraud clown.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hmm perhaps my child will make the basketball team then. I was preparing my “good try” speech.

Please help me understand your statement because this strikes me as incredibly racist. Are you assuming the students of color are vaccine hesitant and will not be able to play basketball because they are unvaccinated and your athletically untalented, white child now has a better chance of making the team because there will be less competition for spots on the team??

No worries. The black and white basketball players at my DC’s school are all vaccinated as they were encouraged to do so by their AAU coaches and high schools that are recruiting them as they mandate vaccines at those high schools. No worries PP, get your “good try” speech ready for your kid. Tell him cross country is a no-cut sport.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Glad to see Bower finally stand up to the union, which, of course, opposes this mandate. Bowser always does the right thing, after everyone else has already done it. Leading from behind.

Source? Where does the WTU say they oppose the mandate?

Are you confusing the WTU with the firefighters and police unions?

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Glad to see Bower finally stand up to the union, which, of course, opposes this mandate. Bowser always does the right thing, after everyone else has already done it. Leading from behind.

Source? Where does the WTU say they oppose the mandate?

Are you confusing the WTU with the firefighters and police unions?

The WTU is not happy about the mandate being imposed rather than negotiated. From the article I referenced in the original post of this thread:

The announcement drew immediate rebuke from the Washington Teachers’ Union, which said that the city should have negotiated a mandate with the union. Union President Jacqueline Pogue Lyons said that although she wants all teachers to be vaccinated and school buildings open, she fears that some people could be wrongly terminated. She said that she has heard reports from teachers who experienced technical glitches when they applied for medical or religious exemptions.

“We would have hoped a vaccination mandate would be discussed with the WTU in advance, given that changes in working conditions are a mandatory subject of bargaining,” Lyons said in a statement. “We need to get clarity and work this out through bargaining immediately.”

[Anonymous]

So...the mayor could have imposed this mandate all along, without bargaining with the union? Sounds like that's what she did yesterday.

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Glad to see Bower finally stand up to the union, which, of course, opposes this mandate. Bowser always does the right thing, after everyone else has already done it. Leading from behind.

Source? Where does the WTU say they oppose the mandate?

Are you confusing the WTU with the firefighters and police unions?

The WTU is not happy about the mandate being imposed rather than negotiated. From the article I referenced in the original post of this thread:

The announcement drew immediate rebuke from the Washington Teachers’ Union, which said that the city should have negotiated a mandate with the union. Union President Jacqueline Pogue Lyons said that although she wants all teachers to be vaccinated and school buildings open, she fears that some people could be wrongly terminated. She said that she has heard reports from teachers who experienced technical glitches when they applied for medical or religious exemptions.

“We would have hoped a vaccination mandate would be discussed with the WTU in advance, given that changes in working conditions are a mandatory subject of bargaining,” Lyons said in a statement. “We need to get clarity and work this out through bargaining immediately.”

Of course the WTU wants to bargain over it because they don't care about kids. Not vaccinated = you're fired. End of story.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Of course the WTU wants to bargain over it because they don't care about kids. Not vaccinated = you're fired. End of story.

That's not actually the end of the story. As I posted earlier, the new mandate also has medical and religious exemptions. Frankly, I don't think there are valid religious concerns since everyone from the Mormon Church to the Pope are supporting the vaccine. But, if someone wants to apply for such an exemption, there should be a clear mechanism for them to submit it (and an efficient method of rejecting it). I would assume medical exemptions should be relatively straight-forward, but still there needs to be a documented process for applying for one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Glad to see Bower finally stand up to the union, which, of course, opposes this mandate. Bowser always does the right thing, after everyone else has already done it. Leading from behind.

Source? Where does the WTU say they oppose the mandate?

Are you confusing the WTU with the firefighters and police unions?

The WTU is not happy about the mandate being imposed rather than negotiated. From the article I referenced in the original post of this thread:

The announcement drew immediate rebuke from the Washington Teachers’ Union, which said that the city should have negotiated a mandate with the union. Union President Jacqueline Pogue Lyons said that although she wants all teachers to be vaccinated and school buildings open, she fears that some people could be wrongly terminated. She said that she has heard reports from teachers who experienced technical glitches when they applied for medical or religious exemptions.

“We would have hoped a vaccination mandate would be discussed with the WTU in advance, given that changes in working conditions are a mandatory subject of bargaining,” Lyons said in a statement. “We need to get clarity and work this out through bargaining immediately.”

Of course the WTU wants to bargain over it because they don't care about kids. Not vaccinated = you're fired. End of story.

There are many teachers on Twitter posting about how this invades their freedom of choice with respect to their body and “hahaha-ing” saying DCPS is going to have a big problem since so many teachers are going to quit over this leaving them understaffed. I don’t purport to know whether any of that is even remotely accurate or reflective of anything but a very small minority view but it was sickening to see any teacher saw.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:There are many teachers on Twitter posting about how this invades their freedom of choice with respect to their body and “hahaha-ing” saying DCPS is going to have a big problem since so many teachers are going to quit over this leaving them understaffed. I don’t purport to know whether any of that is even remotely accurate or reflective of anything but a very small minority view but it was sickening to see any teacher saw.

I would take this with a full-strength grain of salt. I'm seeing a lot of non-teachers jumping in to speak on behalf of teachers rather than actual teachers posting such things. Let's see how many are ready to give up their jobs. Moreover, I think very few tears would be shed for any who decide to quit. Experiences in the states show there has been a lot of griping, but very few resignations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So...the mayor could have imposed this mandate all along, without bargaining with the union? Sounds like that's what she did yesterday.

To add: This also suggests that there is sort of a pre-negotiation about what's the subject of negotiation. The WTU's demand that the parameters of the vaccine mandate must be negotiated is subject to dispute.