Mulvihill estimates 85 percent of student-contact staff is vaccinated
By Terry Murry on Monday, November 1st, 2021 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
PENDLETON – InterMountain Education Service District and the school districts it represents have weathered the storm of Gov. Kate Brown’s vaccination mandate for school personnel in contact with students. Superintendent Mark Mulvihill said it wasn’t as bad as was feared.
“If you asked me to give you an average, I’d say 85 percent of our staff is vaccinated,” he estimated. “I’d say another 10 percent received either medical or religious exemptions.”
Also exempted in Governor Brown’s mandate were any school district employees who do not have any direct contact with students.
“That would be like a business manager at a large district,” he said. “Those positions that do not have direct contact did not fall into the requirement for the vaccination.”
Mulvihill said it’s good that initial fears did not pan out.
“We were able to retain staff,” he said. “We had very few resignations, very few terminations, and that’s good news.”
