School board given heads-up on possible mandate

By Per Peterson

While nothing is close to being set in stone yet, the District No. 2904 School Board on Monday was briefed on the COVID-19 Vaccination Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) that might come into effect next year.

Minnesota is one of 21 states with its own State Occupational Safety and Health Administration Plans that cover both the private sector, as well as state and local government workers. The proposed mandate would require all employers with 100 or more employees “to ensure their workforce is fully vaccinated or require any workers who remain unvaccinated to produce a negative test result on at last a weekly basis before coming to work.”

The program has yet to be put into effect, as the State is waiting on the results of a lawsuit in another state against the federal government.

“It’s at a standstill right now, so we don’t have any direction, it’s just in limbo,” Tracy Area Public Schools Supt. Chad Anderson told the board Monday. “I don’t have anything to tell you today about the requirements for that.”

Anderson brought the subject to light since the school district does include more than 100 employees. He added that no mandate for the school district, or any schools in Minnesota, has been put in place.

“I’m sure this is not what anybody wanted to see, but here it is,” he said. “It’s something that we’ll just have to deal with when we find out if it comes to fruition.”

See this week’s Headlight Herald for more on this article.