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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 11, 2021)
COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL | NOVEMBER 11, 2021 | 7A from A1 SLSD in all locations and submit- ting to weekly COVID test- ing, two issues which were among the most heavily criticized by staff on Mon- day. Testimonies Prior to the vote, all five teachers up for dismissal took time to provide public testimony in the special ses- sion. Testimonies excoriated the school district for deci- sions surrounding the vac- cine mandate. Samantha Beach, a fifth- year second grade teacher at Bohemia Elementary School, began. “I would like to make it clear that I was not recom- mended to you for termi- nation because I refused to comply with the governor’s mandate, but instead be- cause I could not in good conscience comply with the requirements that were be- ing forced on me from this district after my exception was approved,” said Beach. She cited ORS (Oregon Revised Statutes) 333-019- 1030, which stipulates that school staff must be vacci- nated against COVID-19 or have a documented medical or religious exception, add- ing that her own exception had been accepted by the school district on Sept. 10. “Therefore, I should have been in compliance with what was required of me by law,” said Beach. “Imag- ine my surprise when the district added its own man- dates in the form of a list of eight additional require- ments solely for staff with approved exceptions.” Beach described the ac- commodations as a list of rules which “may look be- nign on the surface, but they are leading this district into a culture of discrimination and shaming.” The requirement to wear a KN95 mask at all times and locations, for example, would mark unvaccinated staff out from others and potentially cause differential treatment from those aware of the rule, Beach explained. “This rule is a clear viola- tion of medical privacy,” she said. Beach also took issue with an expectation which 15% OFF Any service with coupon Schedule your appointment Today! Not Valid on any service Exceeding $100 • Expires 11/30/21 Not valid with any other offer. Our People Really Make The Difference! 541-942-4415 • 2775 Row River Road • bradschevy.com Anytime. Anywhere. Any day... Matt Bjornn, Agent Bus: 541-942-2623 www.bjornninsurance.com 1101198.1 That’s when you can count on State Farm ® . I know life doesn’t come with a schedule. That’s why at State Farm you can always count on me for whatever you need – 24/7, 365. GET TO A BETTER STATE ™ . CALL ME TODAY. State Farm, Home Office, Bloomington, IL prohibits unvaccinated staff from removing their mask to eat or drink with others in the room, further segre- gating and socially isolating the unvaccinated and caus- ing barriers to “proper hy- dration and nourishment” as isolation in a school envi- ronment is “almost impossi- ble”. She also asked that the document be removed by the superintendent as the stipulations in it were not mandatory. “I chose not to sign this document because I believe it is pushing us down a dan- gerous path of segregation, harassment and violation of protected medical and religious rights,” said Beach, invoking the school’s policy of non-discrimination. Next, Harrison Elemen- tary School teacher Peter Bowers chastised the district for holding the meeting at 8:45 a.m. and stated he was missing work to attend the meeting. “It’s only going to look like you’re trying to duck public scrutiny,” he said. “That’s not a very good look.” He also complained that his access to his district email had already been cut off. “We are not here because of this mandate,” he said. “We are here because of the unreasonable expectations foisted upon us by the su- perintendent.” Bowers also criticized the requirement to wear a mask all day as discriminatory. “According to Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, my employer cannot discriminate against me by requiring additional restric- tions on me based on medi- cal or religious grounds,” he said. “And in so doing the employer is putting qualifi- cations on my right to hold and live by my religious be- liefs.” Bowers went on to reject the condition of weekly test- ing, which he said contained a substance known to cause cancer and an alternative method suggested would not prove timely. He also took issue with the district maintaining the right to impose further re- strictions in the future if it deems necessary. The coercive nature of the requirements, he said, were unacceptable. “As it turns out, holding one’s job over their head is a powerful motivator towards compliance,” he said. Bowers added that “to be ripped” from his classroom has caused stress and anx- iety for himself as well as students. “I don’t think that this de- cision is best for students,” the teacher said. “In a world that’s full of big, scary adult issues, kids need a consis- tent place to feel safe and cared for. I was that place. Now they’re in a place of un- certainty. This is not what I would consider putting chil- dren first.” Regardless of vaccination status, even vaccine break- through cases may transmit the Delta variant effectively, making him no less a public health threat than a vacci- nated person, he stated. Bowers implored the board to consider that a vote for dismissal would be tan- tamount to siding with dis- crimination. London School teacher Kimberly Green next spoke of her 17 years as a teacher, five of which were in Lon- don School, and her adher- ence to the restrictions im- posed through the last year of pandemic regulations. Green took issue with the grounds for dismissal, namely “insubordination and neglect of duty,” point- ing to her compliance with regulations and continuous contact with the district re- garding mandates. She also rejected the re- quirement to constantly wear a mask. “Not only is it not recom- mended by OSHA for more than two hours, it is not pos- sible to teach and talk con- tinuously with a restrictive mask for six hours or more a day, with only a 15-minute break and lunch break,” said Green. A mask can be a partic- ular barrier to teaching for special education students, she added. Echoing Bowers’ criti- cism, Green also stated that the frequent testing require- ment, which returns results in five- to seven-days’ time, was not effective and that both tests would require the release of private medical information. Green pointed to her fol- lowing of state and district protocols as a counterargu- ment to the “neglect of duty” dismissal basis. “I have broken no laws in this process,” she said. TURNING 65 AND NEED HELP WITH YOUR MEDICARE CHOICES? “I’ve been honest and true the entire time, uphold- ing my integrity as well as my religious convictions. I have complied with each of them.” While she had intended on signing the district’s doc- ument, she said she felt that the additional accommoda- tions required were unrea- sonable. “That document was changed so many times,” said Green. “And exceptions were made for some and not others. Some people had some things removed and initialed and others were not given those same allow- ances. … Those were hand- picked accommodations by the district.” Green encouraged the board to reconsider their approach. “It could be very simple. You could remove this doc- ument and we can move on,” she said. “There is no equity in this stance. There’s only division.” Jill Hermansen from Bo- hemia Elementary School also addressed the board and spoke of her 25 years of dedication to her students. “I have put children first not only in my professional life but in my personal life as well,” she said, listing the many hours and extra duties she performed in the inter- est of bettering students’ lives. “For 16 years my identity has been centered around being a speech therapist for South Lane School District,” Hermansen said. “It’s what I do. It’s what I am.” Though accepted for a re- ligious exception, she told of her disappoint when learn- ing that this exception was “conditional” on signing a document of expectations that she did not feel were equitable. As with other testimonies, Hermansen did not see the efficacy in the weekly testing mandate or a speech thera- pist required to wear a mask at all times. “I am saddened by the leadership and the legal counsel in this district that more effort was not put into finding accommodations to keep valuable employees,” she said. “My religious be- liefs or my beliefs about the vaccine may not coincide with your beliefs, but in eq- uity, this doesn’t matter. … So please stop professing you believe in equity. You are not working toward a cul- ture of acceptance and equi- ty. You are simply choosing communities to support while being discriminatory towards others.” Lastly, Bohemia Elemen- tary School teacher Lyd- ia Shipley took the virtual floor and addressed the board directly. “You as the board of di- rectors are in a unique po- sition to process what you have heard today and make decisions as to the direc- tion moving forward for South Lane School District staff and students,” she said. “Since the start of the pan- demic, South Lane has been administering policies and actions under the guise of what’s best for kids. I cannot reconcile how letting go of fixed, highly-qualified ed- ucators with years of expe- rience in the wake of such emotion or educational loss due to the pandemic would qualify as what’s best for kids.” Shipley went on to crit- icize other moves by the district such as replacing teachers with substitutes, which she characterized as “inexperienced” and “un- qualified”. “What would have been best for kids is to provide a religious exemption for teachers that didn’t subject them to a built-in discrimi- nation that would do noth- ing but isolate them from their peers, identify them as unvaxxed by their excessive PPE, and leave a blank check on the table for additional restrictions as the adminis- tration sees fit,” she said. Shipley lamented the loss of opportunity for dedicated teachers to continue invest- ing the community’s youth and sympathized with par- ents who were concerned for their children’s safety. “If my testing once a week eased their worries, I would have done it without a con- tract whether I agreed or disagreed with their logic,” she said. “Instead, Superin- tendent Curtis decided to shackle exception-seekers with a laundry list of expec- tations, violate their staff confidentiality by outing, involve staff in a bulk email and then follow it up with a lame apology while project- ing responsibility elsewhere, hamper the process by fail- ing to maintain an open line of communication and transparency, and finally, privately negotiated changes to expectations only to re- verse them all later.” The way in which the sit- uation was handled “created a mountain of distrust,” she said, pointing to other dis- tricts across the state which accepted all exceptions and required minimal or no ad- ditional expectations. 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