56 casual LDSB employees placed on administrative leave

The Limestone District School Board has laid off 56 casual employees who have failed to attest vaccination status. 

The information was presented at Wednesday’s Education, Policy, Operations Committee board meeting on November 10, 2021, by Superintendent of Human Resources Susan McWilliams.

The layoffs have little to no impact on operations as a large majority of those have not been working at all this year or have not been available, according to the Limestone District School Board (LDSB). 

LDSB Communications Officer Jane Douglas said staff throughout the entire district are now 100 per cent in compliance with the mandate.

“All full-time or permanent staff have engaged in the appropriate steps in terms of either completing the attestation and being fully vaccinated or completed the attestation and/or are engaging in the rapid antigen testing three times per week,” Douglas stated.

“100 per cent of staff working in schools and other board sites are in compliance, with 94.6 per cent attesting to being fully vaccinated,” she said, adding that these numbers don’t reflect those on long-term leave, who will be required to complete the attestation process upon returning.

Of the 116 Limestone employees engaging in rapid testing thrice weekly, 110 have attested to not being vaccinated, whereas the other six have not attested but continue to take the necessary steps. In total, 3100 employees were required to attest. 

The removal of employees who have not attested is considered to be on an interim basis, and they can at any time complete the attestation process or begin engaging in testing. 

Any new employees of the school board are required to be fully vaccinated as part of their contract.

This article was written by Owen Fullerton as part of the Local Journalism Initiative.