When do we get data on how many teachers are vaccinated?

[Anonymous]

I’d like to know so I have a sense of whether DCPS is going to shut down again. Lots of unvaccinated adults in the schools makes this a higher probability.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was told that vaccines don’t matter and schools are safe. Why does vaccination rates matter if schools were safe in August 2020 before the vaccine?

I was told that teachers should only return to in-person teaching when they are vaccinated.....#Onlywhenitssafe

Vaccine is available. They can take it or not. It’s safe. Vaccinations don’t matter for schools to open.

I mean, the powers that be did not agree with this and kept school buildings closed for a year and a half because of it. Why would they change their minds now? Teachers argued that schools were definitely not safe.

Doesn’t matter what teachers think. School is safe. Why are parents now concerned with vaccine rate. School is safe. It was safe before the vaccine and it’s safe now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I haven’t seen anyone demand the individual vaccination status of an individual teacher in this thread (or even on any thread). I don’t really think that’s what anyone is asking for. The issues seem to be about
—increasing safety in schools by having high vaccination rates among those who can get the vaccine
—lowering likelihood of school disruptions in the future for quarantines, which is important for students’ education and educators’ sanity
—trusting that teachers as a whole were being truthful when they argued they wanted to be safe in schools before returning.
—confirming that vaccine refusal isn’t a very common thing among teachers (at least for me, I would be very concerned with the DC education system if a significant portion of educators were anti-vaxxers)


None of those issues requires knowing anything about individual medical records. It’s just about collecting data (with common privacy safeguards that are already used) and reporting rates.

+ 1,000. Also, why won’t it be required for this year?! What was the point of all those tiny coffins dropped off at the Mayors house?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was told that vaccines don’t matter and schools are safe. Why does vaccination rates matter if schools were safe in August 2020 before the vaccine?

I was told that teachers should only return to in-person teaching when they are vaccinated.....#Onlywhenitssafe

Vaccine is available. They can take it or not. It’s safe. Vaccinations don’t matter for schools to open.

I mean, the powers that be did not agree with this and kept school buildings closed for a year and a half because of it. Why would they change their minds now? Teachers argued that schools were definitely not safe.

Doesn’t matter what teachers think. School is safe. Why are parents now concerned with vaccine rate. School is safe. It was safe before the vaccine and it’s safe now.

Did you believe school was safe before? Did you argue vociferously that it was, with your school's principal? Did you write to your representatives in government and the various agencies in charge of making the decisions to open school buildings? If you are an educator, did you argue with WTU (if you are in DCPS) that teachers should teach in person immediately?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I haven’t seen anyone demand the individual vaccination status of an individual teacher in this thread (or even on any thread). I don’t really think that’s what anyone is asking for. The issues seem to be about
—increasing safety in schools by having high vaccination rates among those who can get the vaccine
—lowering likelihood of school disruptions in the future for quarantines, which is important for students’ education and educators’ sanity
—trusting that teachers as a whole were being truthful when they argued they wanted to be safe in schools before returning.
—confirming that vaccine refusal isn’t a very common thing among teachers (at least for me, I would be very concerned with the DC education system if a significant portion of educators were anti-vaxxers)


None of those issues requires knowing anything about individual medical records. It’s just about collecting data (with common privacy safeguards that are already used) and reporting rates.

+ 1,000. Also, why won’t it be required for this year?! What was the point of all those tiny coffins dropped off at the Mayors house?

They already announced it won’t be required for staff or students this school year. It’s best to move on from that at this point. It isn’t going to happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:how does it help to know if 64% or whatever of DCPS teachers are vaccinated if you don't know how many at you kid's school are? and even if you knew that 93% at your kid's school were vaccinated, what if their teacher were in the 7% that wasn't?

because this is about overall numbers not personal risk assessment. hopefully DCPS can identify any populations or schools that need more outreach - eg I suspect rates are much lower among staff v teachers. If 50% of DCPS adults are vaccinated then that indicates that mandator vax might be necessary even if some schools are 90%. if DCPS overall is 80% then maybe targeted outreach is better.

But if it's about how DCPS should do outreach, why would it need to be made public?

because parents have a right to know, as do teachers and staff members who want to know their workplace is vaccinated.

NP but I will go back to a PP’s argument- as a teacher if I hear that 60% of DCPS teachers are vaccinated that doesn’t actually tell me anything about my specific workplace. It’s not like all DCPS teachers work in the same building. That number also might make parents anxious when it turns out their individual school has 85% vaccination rate or something like that.

Here’s what I imagine might happen: DCPS releases the rates (let’s say 60%). Some LSATs freak out because parents freak out and start to want to know specific data about their school or teachers.

It's hard to respond to things as I'm not sure what/why things are getting deleted.

I wrote this earlier but it was deleted:

If I know that 60% of teachers/staff are vaccinated that gives me an understanding about a number of things regarding educating my child at DCPS. It starts as a probability of vaccination for the individual teachers my kids have. If only 60% of staff/teachers are vaccinated overall, that gives me a starting place to realizing that there's a good chance (like 40%, without other information) that my kids' teachers aren't vaccinated. So I can operate with that information, which is pertinent to the risk my child will face from in-person schooling. It tells me a number of other things as well, most of which have been discussed above (if they haven't been deleted). If 95% of teachers/staff are vaccinated, I'm going to feel far better about the risks to my kid, and I'm also going to believe other things (that have been discussed above).

I am PP and thank you for your response. I can see the reason the data would be useful but would you really choose to homeschool your child if the rate was 60%? Besides piece of mind, what would change in your decisions about school if the rates were 60% vaccinated versus 90% vaccinated? ( not to say piece of mind isn’t important).

Well, there are charters that are reporting the data, and their educators are reporting rates near 95%. So that's an option in certain scenarios. (E.g., the choice between a 95%-vaxxed charter and the weirdly quiet DCPS IB school with teachers who don't want to say the vaccination rate). There's also a wide chasm of risk mitigation methods that resides between homeschooling and IPL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was told that vaccines don’t matter and schools are safe. Why does vaccination rates matter if schools were safe in August 2020 before the vaccine?

I was told that teachers should only return to in-person teaching when they are vaccinated.....#Onlywhenitssafe

Vaccine is available. They can take it or not. It’s safe. Vaccinations don’t matter for schools to open.

I mean, the powers that be did not agree with this and kept school buildings closed for a year and a half because of it. Why would they change their minds now? Teachers argued that schools were definitely not safe.

Doesn’t matter what teachers think. School is safe. Why are parents now concerned with vaccine rate. School is safe. It was safe before the vaccine and it’s safe now.

Did you believe school was safe before? Did you argue vociferously that it was, with your school's principal? Did you write to your representatives in government and the various agencies in charge of making the decisions to open school buildings? If you are an educator, did you argue with WTU (if you are in DCPS) that teachers should teach in person immediately?

Actually yes I did. I wrote to all of my kids teachers showing research and telling them it was safe. I wrote to every council member and Dr Nesbit monthly. I emailed the local news stations. I emailed all of the deputy chancellors and Ferebee every other month. I emailed OSSE every month. I had signs out in my front yard in NW saying it was safe to open schools. I’m not sure why you accuse me of not doing enough. Did you do as much as me? Did you work as tirelessly as I did to reopen?

I don’t care about vaccination rates. It’s safe. And if you all get caught up in this argument you are reinforcing the fact that it was “unsafe” before vaccination. It doesn’t matter how many teachers have the shots. It didn’t matter before and it doesn’t matter now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:how does it help to know if 64% or whatever of DCPS teachers are vaccinated if you don't know how many at you kid's school are? and even if you knew that 93% at your kid's school were vaccinated, what if their teacher were in the 7% that wasn't?

because this is about overall numbers not personal risk assessment. hopefully DCPS can identify any populations or schools that need more outreach - eg I suspect rates are much lower among staff v teachers. If 50% of DCPS adults are vaccinated then that indicates that mandator vax might be necessary even if some schools are 90%. if DCPS overall is 80% then maybe targeted outreach is better.

But if it's about how DCPS should do outreach, why would it need to be made public?

because parents have a right to know, as do teachers and staff members who want to know their workplace is vaccinated.

NP but I will go back to a PP’s argument- as a teacher if I hear that 60% of DCPS teachers are vaccinated that doesn’t actually tell me anything about my specific workplace. It’s not like all DCPS teachers work in the same building. That number also might make parents anxious when it turns out their individual school has 85% vaccination rate or something like that.

Here’s what I imagine might happen: DCPS releases the rates (let’s say 60%). Some LSATs freak out because parents freak out and start to want to know specific data about their school or teachers.

I mean, that’s a bit absurd and no reason not to collect and disclose data on this single MOST important safety metric. not sure why that’s hard to understand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The public doesn't really need to know the raw numbers, as long as DCPS requires all of its employees to be vaccinated. It's a pretty easy thing for an employee to accomplish: simply present your proof of vaccination, and show up for work.

As a parent of a student that can't yet be vaxxed, I'm comfortable not knowing the numbers of teachers that are vaccinated if DCPS does in fact make the vax mandatory for teachers and staff -- presumably if we have mandatory vaccination, the percentage would be 100% (or near it).

But, in the likely event that the vax will not be mandatory for DCPS teachers and staff, how does that increase risk for students who are not vaxxed or who are immunocompromised? What percentage of teachers not being vaxxed (40%?) seems like it's a unnecessary risk that teachers should not create for young kids?

Well I can tell you they WILL NOT require the vaccine this school year.

On what authority can you be sure DCPS will NOT require all teachers to be vaccinated? The EEOC has ruled that employers VERY WELL CAN REQUIRE employees to be vaccinated. I expect DCPS to do just that, in the very near future. I have not read any logical reason why DCPS should not do this.

Dcps teachers have collective bargaining rights. So Dcps can’t unilaterally change the terms of our employment such as requiring a vaccine without negotiating it.

wow sounds like WTU is really invested in safety - I mean this is primarily a safety issue for WTU’s own member!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:how does it help to know if 64% or whatever of DCPS teachers are vaccinated if you don't know how many at you kid's school are? and even if you knew that 93% at your kid's school were vaccinated, what if their teacher were in the 7% that wasn't?

because this is about overall numbers not personal risk assessment. hopefully DCPS can identify any populations or schools that need more outreach - eg I suspect rates are much lower among staff v teachers. If 50% of DCPS adults are vaccinated then that indicates that mandator vax might be necessary even if some schools are 90%. if DCPS overall is 80% then maybe targeted outreach is better.

But if it's about how DCPS should do outreach, why would it need to be made public?

because parents have a right to know, as do teachers and staff members who want to know their workplace is vaccinated.

NP but I will go back to a PP’s argument- as a teacher if I hear that 60% of DCPS teachers are vaccinated that doesn’t actually tell me anything about my specific workplace. It’s not like all DCPS teachers work in the same building. That number also might make parents anxious when it turns out their individual school has 85% vaccination rate or something like that.

Here’s what I imagine might happen: DCPS releases the rates (let’s say 60%). Some LSATs freak out because parents freak out and start to want to know specific data about their school or teachers.

I mean, that’s a bit absurd and no reason not to collect and disclose data on this single MOST important safety metric. not sure why that’s hard to understand.

I am PP and didn't say the data shouldn't be collected. I was commenting that telling me DCPS' vaccination rate doesn't tell me anything about my actual workplace vaccination rates. I frankly don't care at this point and haven't been worried about COVID for a long time (and also think schools should have been open, told the WTU my opinion, etc.) I filled out the survey as soon as they sent it because I don't think it's some secret information, nor do I think it is 'nobody else's business if I'm vaccinated'. The point of vaccination is the public good. I was just responding that this doesn't actually tell anyone that their specific school is 'safe' or 'unsafe'.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was told that vaccines don’t matter and schools are safe. Why does vaccination rates matter if schools were safe in August 2020 before the vaccine?

I was told that teachers should only return to in-person teaching when they are vaccinated.....#Onlywhenitssafe

Vaccine is available. They can take it or not. It’s safe. Vaccinations don’t matter for schools to open.

I mean, the powers that be did not agree with this and kept school buildings closed for a year and a half because of it. Why would they change their minds now? Teachers argued that schools were definitely not safe.

Doesn’t matter what teachers think. School is safe. Why are parents now concerned with vaccine rate. School is safe. It was safe before the vaccine and it’s safe now.

Did you believe school was safe before? Did you argue vociferously that it was, with your school's principal? Did you write to your representatives in government and the various agencies in charge of making the decisions to open school buildings? If you are an educator, did you argue with WTU (if you are in DCPS) that teachers should teach in person immediately?

Actually yes I did. I wrote to all of my kids teachers showing research and telling them it was safe. I wrote to every council member and Dr Nesbit monthly. I emailed the local news stations. I emailed all of the deputy chancellors and Ferebee every other month. I emailed OSSE every month. I had signs out in my front yard in NW saying it was safe to open schools. I’m not sure why you accuse me of not doing enough. Did you do as much as me? Did you work as tirelessly as I did to reopen?

I don’t care about vaccination rates. It’s safe. And if you all get caught up in this argument you are reinforcing the fact that it was “unsafe” before vaccination. It doesn’t matter how many teachers have the shots. It didn’t matter before and it doesn’t matter now.

You have zero boundaries. Opening had nothing to do with your kids teachers or even at the school level. You don't harass teachers. If you had put half as much time into helping your kids on virtual then they probably would have had a better time with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Last I checked, teachers are paid with tax dollars. That gives the public the right to know if their children are being taught by some crazy anti-vaxxer.

Nope. Sorry to burst your entitled bubble.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Last I checked, teachers are paid with tax dollars. That gives the public the right to know if their children are being taught by some crazy anti-vaxxer.

Great, and are you going to step in and teach this year?

I'm so tired of this argument that if you have any criticism of teachers whatsoever, you have to teach.

I'm so tired of this argument that Mah Tax Dollars means you get to demand everything you want from teachers. Sorry, doesn't work that way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was told that vaccines don’t matter and schools are safe. Why does vaccination rates matter if schools were safe in August 2020 before the vaccine?

I was told that teachers should only return to in-person teaching when they are vaccinated.....#Onlywhenitssafe

Vaccine is available. They can take it or not. It’s safe. Vaccinations don’t matter for schools to open.

I mean, the powers that be did not agree with this and kept school buildings closed for a year and a half because of it. Why would they change their minds now? Teachers argued that schools were definitely not safe.

Doesn’t matter what teachers think. School is safe. Why are parents now concerned with vaccine rate. School is safe. It was safe before the vaccine and it’s safe now.

Did you believe school was safe before? Did you argue vociferously that it was, with your school's principal? Did you write to your representatives in government and the various agencies in charge of making the decisions to open school buildings? If you are an educator, did you argue with WTU (if you are in DCPS) that teachers should teach in person immediately?

Actually yes I did. I wrote to all of my kids teachers showing research and telling them it was safe. I wrote to every council member and Dr Nesbit monthly. I emailed the local news stations. I emailed all of the deputy chancellors and Ferebee every other month. I emailed OSSE every month. I had signs out in my front yard in NW saying it was safe to open schools. I’m not sure why you accuse me of not doing enough. Did you do as much as me? Did you work as tirelessly as I did to reopen?

I don’t care about vaccination rates. It’s safe. And if you all get caught up in this argument you are reinforcing the fact that it was “unsafe” before vaccination. It doesn’t matter how many teachers have the shots. It didn’t matter before and it doesn’t matter now.

You have zero boundaries. Opening had nothing to do with your kids teachers or even at the school level. You don't harass teachers. If you had put half as much time into helping your kids on virtual then they probably would have had a better time with it.

Thanks for your concern. My kids actually did great at distance learning. I used to be a teacher, so my kids were fine.

Still doesn’t change anything. It was safe before and it’s safe now. Vaccination rates don’t matter. Focusing on that makes reinforces that it wasn’t safe before. This is a dumb argument. Open the schools. Send your kids. It doesn’t matter if the teachers are vaccinated or not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was told that vaccines don’t matter and schools are safe. Why does vaccination rates matter if schools were safe in August 2020 before the vaccine?

I was told that teachers should only return to in-person teaching when they are vaccinated.....#Onlywhenitssafe

Vaccine is available. They can take it or not. It’s safe. Vaccinations don’t matter for schools to open.

I mean, the powers that be did not agree with this and kept school buildings closed for a year and a half because of it. Why would they change their minds now? Teachers argued that schools were definitely not safe.

Doesn’t matter what teachers think. School is safe. Why are parents now concerned with vaccine rate. School is safe. It was safe before the vaccine and it’s safe now.

Did you believe school was safe before? Did you argue vociferously that it was, with your school's principal? Did you write to your representatives in government and the various agencies in charge of making the decisions to open school buildings? If you are an educator, did you argue with WTU (if you are in DCPS) that teachers should teach in person immediately?

Actually yes I did. I wrote to all of my kids teachers showing research and telling them it was safe. I wrote to every council member and Dr Nesbit monthly. I emailed the local news stations. I emailed all of the deputy chancellors and Ferebee every other month. I emailed OSSE every month. I had signs out in my front yard in NW saying it was safe to open schools. I’m not sure why you accuse me of not doing enough. Did you do as much as me? Did you work as tirelessly as I did to reopen?

I don’t care about vaccination rates. It’s safe. And if you all get caught up in this argument you are reinforcing the fact that it was “unsafe” before vaccination. It doesn’t matter how many teachers have the shots. It didn’t matter before and it doesn’t matter now.

NP. Thank you for your advocacy. I agree with you that schools were safe before vaccines and should have been open, but now that we do have extremely effective vaccines, they could obviously be even safer. So while I would still send my too young to be vaccinated kids even if none of the teachers were vaccinated, I absolutely think that the pressure on teachers should be immense to get their shots. That doesn’t mean they have to disclose their status to individual parents, but they should have to disclose it to their employer, and it would be nice if the employer could mandate it. It’s simply not true that vaccination rates of teachers don’t matter at all. If nothing else, they matter to reduce the chances of quarantines. All that said, I don’t think this is an issue at our Upper NW school, where I believe the vast majority of the teachers are vaccinated.