Boston teachers unions raised concerns that a “disproportionate” number of minority educators may be forced out of work by the city’s vaccine mandate, ABC News reported Friday.
“We are very concerned about the possibility of losing a disproportionate number of educators of color in Boston over the vaccine policy,” said Jessica Tang, president of the Boston Teachers Union (BTU), in a statement to the outlet. (RELATED: De Blasio’s Vaccine Passports Will Hit Minority, Poor Communities The Hardest)
“When I saw our numbers, I was very alarmed and started immediately raising the red flags,” Tang also said, according to the Boston Globe. “We’ve worked so hard to increase teacher diversity in the first place.”
The district’s potential loss of Black and Latino educators in the middle of the school year could have long-term implications for BPS, where three-quarters of students are Black or Latino but only 42 percent of educators arehttps://t.co/xwaa0Cuh16 via @BostonGlobe
— Jenna Russell (@jrussglobe) January 27, 2022
Newly-elected Mayor Michelle Wu announced the implementation of Boston’s “B Together” initiative in December, which touts a vaccine mandate that would require all city employees to have been administered at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by January 15, and to be fully vaccinated by February 15. Noncompliant employees would be placed on unpaid leave after the deadline.
The Massachusetts Appeals Court issued a temporary pause of the mandate Thursday after receiving significant blowback from public sector unions, according to ABC. The BTU has since issued a statement asserting that it will not place any employees on leave until a decision is made regarding the appeal.
According to a January 27 report by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, 65% of white Bostonians are fully vaccinated, compared to 60% of black and Hispanic residents and 81% of Asian residents.