NORTHAMPTON — The School Committee on Tuesday night delayed a vote on a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for students participating in extracurricular activities, including athletics, and asked the Superintendent’s Health Advisory Committee (SHAC) to draft a policy that addresses concerns about health care equity.
“We know that not all members of our community have equal access to health care,” Superintendent John Provost said. “It needs to be done very carefully to prevent adverse unintended consequences.”
The SHAC is a body of public health experts, including city Public Health Director Merridith O’Leary, who meet regularly with Provost to manage the pandemic’s impact on schools. Provost added that not everyone has “the same beliefs about the vaccine,” and any policy should avoid taking away a “lifeline” from students who thrive in extracurricular activities.
He said that caregivers of young children are likely to view the mandate differently from caregivers of older students, and that older students should be required to get vaccinated first. Using the example of before- and after-school programs, he said parents cannot be forced to lose their child care, and potentially their jobs, over the mandate.
At-Large School Committee member Susan Voss shared a letter sent to the committee by the Board of Health that expresses support for requiring the vaccine prior to enrollment at school — an idea that the city’s legal counsel has cautioned against — while suggesting the extracurricular activities mandate as an alternative.
Voss said the indoor sports season is about to begin, and in terms of virus spread, “That’s very different from outdoor sports season. … We can put more layers in to keep COVID out of the schools as best as possible.”
State law Chapter 76 Section 15 lists the vaccinations that are required for school enrollment — currently diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio and measles — and only the state Department of Public Health has the authority to add new mandates to that list, according to city solicitor Alan Seewald, who addressed the Board of Health in October.
Mayor David Narkewicz, as chair of the School Committee, has requested an enrollment vaccination mandate from the state health department for students 16 and older. The Amherst Regional School District has instituted a mandate for enrollment despite the state law.
The committee rescinded the policy requiring students to wear masks at recess when social distancing is not possible. Provost said the SHAC “definitely supports unmasking at recess” and suggested an implementation date of Dec. 22 to give parents time to get their kids vaccinated before unmasking begins.
At-Large member Roni Gold said he specifically did not include an implementation date in his proposal to rescind the policy because state regulators are not requiring masking at recess and there have been “zero cases” linked to spread during recess in Northampton. Now, the district will follow state guidelines when considering masking.
Brian Steele can be reached at bsteele@gazettenet.com.