Madison School District officials unveil vaccine mandate plan for employees | Local News

The Madison School Board will likely vote on the plan at its meeting next week.

“As a school district, we have an obligation to ensure a safe and healthy learning and work environment,” said Leia Esser, director of student services operations and accountability, during the group’s meeting Monday night. “And quite simply, vaccination is the most powerful and effective mitigation measure that we have at our disposal.”

The vaccine mandate would also apply to Madison School & Community Recreation staff. Under the plan the district would also establish “expectations” around vaccination status for in-person visitors to MMSD schools, according to the plan.

Under the plan, employees must submit documentation of vaccination status or an application for an exemption by Nov. 1.

The district would then confirm vaccination documentation and evaluate exemption applications by Dec. 1. Staff not in compliance would be placed on unpaid leave starting Dec. 15, and a notice of termination for “unvaccinated and nonexempt employees” would be sent the week of Dec. 20.

The plan was strongly endorsed by the group’s medical advisors, Ellen Wald and Gregory Demuri, two professors of pediatric medicine at UW-Madison.

“This (plan) is really well thought out,” DeMuri said. “I’ve been involved with some other efforts like this in other places and this is one that I think is really trying to do this very deliberately and incorporating as much humanity as possible. This is a great thing, this is administratively very important.”