Here’s how Whatcom’s educators created ‘one of the safest environments for our children’
Employees in Whatcom County’s seven school districts are not only getting vaccinated against COVID-19 at rates higher than the rest of the county as a whole, but more than half of the districts also have higher vaccination rates among employees in classrooms than the 90% average the state announced.
On Thursday, Oct. 28, State Superintendent Chris Reykdal held a media briefing in Olympia to report that the state’s public K-12 school employees have far exceeded the vaccination rate for the rest of the state.
“Our K–12 workforce really stepped up in a way that further protects themselves, their students, colleagues, families, and their communities at large,” Reykdal said in a news release. “With our adherence to safety protocols and nearly 90% of our staff vaccinated, our schools remain one of the safest environments for our children.”
According to data from the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, 90.4% of staff who work in classrooms in close proximity to students have been fully vaccinated.
Four Whatcom County school districts — those in Bellingham, Blaine, Meridian and Mount Baker — reported to The Bellingham Herald that their vaccination rates were even higher than that. And Ferndale, Lynden and Nooksack Valley weren’t far off that mark.
Here is the data the districts reported to The Herald Friday:
▪ Bellingham Public Schools: 96.5% of employees have been fully vaccinated as of Oct. 19.
▪ Blaine School District: 91% of employees have been vaccinated.
▪ Ferndale School District: 88% of the staff has been vaccinated.
▪ Lynden School District: 82% of the district’s 485 employees have been vaccinated, 17.8% were approved for a religious or medical exemption and 0.2% became ineligible for employment under state laws.
▪ Meridian School District: 90.8% of employees have been vaccinated and 9.2% were approved for a medical or religious exemption.
▪ Mount Baker School District: 80% of all staff, including 96% of teachers and other certified staff, are fully vaccinated.
▪ Nooksack Valley School District: 83% of staff, including 85% of staff in classrooms, has been vaccinated and 17% received a medical or religious exemption.
According to the Washington State Department of Health’s COVID-19 Data Dashboard on Wednesday, Oct. 27, 66.7% of Whatcom County’s total population has initiated vaccination and 61.6% is fully vaccinated.
Statewide, staff serving in school buildings but not in classrooms have a vaccination rate of 87.6%, and staff serving in central facilities such as district offices and maintenance facilities have a vaccination rate of 86.9%.
“Our school employees are fully vaccinated at rates of 14–18 percentage points higher than the statewide average of vaccinated adults in Washington,” Reykdal said. “This means our students are more likely to come into contact with an unvaccinated adult at the grocery store, a restaurant, or another community area than at their school.”
Schools also reported that 0.5% of school employees have started the vaccination process but aren’t fully vaccinated yet. Another 0.7% obtained medical exemptions and 9.6% obtained religious exemptions.
The data also show that 0.3% of school employees didn’t obtain a vaccine or a medical or religious exemption.
More information can be found on OSPI’s website.
