The Lisbon School Board passed new board policies, from the Iowa Association of School Boards (IASB), to be in compliance with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Emergency Temporary Standard mandating vaccinations/testing for employers of over 100 employees at a special meeting Wednesday, Jan. 5.
The vote was 4-1, with school board member Robyn Richey providing the dissenting opinion. Lisbon superintendent Pat Hocking said there were a lot of concerns voiced about the resolutions prior to passage, and the district will be holding subsequent readings of the policies at the January and February school board meetings.
“The board is doing their due diligence to follow the guidelines as they’ve been presented to us,” Hocking said.
The resolutions were passed in compliance with board policy 210.02, denoting passage in emergency situations of 90 days which allow resolutions to be passed with a single reading.
They were passed because the OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard for employers of over 100 had its stay dissolved by the U.S. Court of Appeals earlier this week. The united States Supreme Court is currently weighing In on if this is constitutional or not.
According to OSHA, with the dissolving of the stay for the vaccine mandates, the organization will not issue citations for non-compliance with any requirements before Jan. 10, and will not issue citations for non-compliance of the testing requirements before Feb. 9, as long as employers are exercising reasonable, good faith efforts to come into compliance with the ETS.
The resolutions require that employees become fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and must submit proof of vaccination against COVID-19 to the district.
If an employee is not vaccinated against COVID-19, they must wear face coverings at all times when indoors, in vehicle or in enclosed spaces at the school district. Effective Jan. 4, those who are not vaccinated will also need to provide negative COVID-19 tests every seven days.
Face coverings do not need to be worn when employees are working alone in a room, verifying identity for security purposes or eating and drinking or if they are wearing a respirator or face mask.
An employee away from work for more than seven days must provide a negative COVID test before returning to work.
Employees also need to report any COVID-19 test results indicating a diagnosis of COVID-19 to the district, if they are vaccinated or unvaccinated. Employees with positive COVID-19 tests will be removed from the workforce until they receive a negative test, meet the return to work guidelines from the CDC Isolation Guidance or have approval from a licensed healthcare provider to return to work.
New employees for the school district will need to adhere to the vaccine mandate as well, by providing their vaccination status within seven days of hiring or adhere to the testing and face covering requirements of the policy within seven days.
If an employee works from home, works fully remote for their job or works exclusively outdoors, they are excluded from the vaccination, testing or face coverings requirements of the policy.
Employees who have medical restrictions or sincerely held religious beliefs against the vaccine can file for an accommodation in order to remain in compliance. Failure of an employee to abide by the requirements may face disciplinary action up to and including termination.
The district will be required to report any fatality of COVID-19 or any work-related inpatient hospitalization of the virus.