The Madison Metropolitan School District won’t require their staff to be vaccinated or undergo regular testing for COVID-19 in the coming school year, according to a spokesperson.
Masks will be mandated inside school buildings but not required outside, MMSD spokesperson Tim LeMonds told News 3 Now in an interview on Monday.
The news comes as Dane County re-implemented an indoor mask mandate on Tuesday, and both the city of Madison and Dane County imposed a vaccine requirement or regular COVID-19 testing on their employees.
Because vaccine requirements are not a part of CDC guidance, LeMonds said, they weren’t a part of the school district’s safety discussions.
“At this point in the game, we just don’t see that as being an effective strategy,” LeMonds noted. “We understand that whatever our decision is, there will be an opposing side to that. Everyone’s voice is important to us, and we consider all of the feedback that we get.”
Neither will the district be tracking how many of their staff or students are vaccinated. LeMonds said the district does not have the staff, equipment, or processes available to track vaccinations or require regular COVID-19 testing.
The news comes as a few major school districts nationwide announce vaccine requirements, including Chicago and Los Angeles. No Wisconsin school districts have announced a staff vaccine requirement yet.
“To compare us to Chicago or New York or Los Angeles or even Milwaukee or even Verona, the makeups of each one of those communities and each one of those school districts is just different,” LeMonds said. “I think it’s comparing apples to oranges.”
Staff and students are asked to not come to school this fall if they have symptoms.
A COVID-19 vaccine for children under 12 years old had not yet been approved, although it is currently undergoing clinical trials. All 50 states have varying requirements for certain types of vaccines for school children.
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