Vaccination Rates in Small Lewis County Schools Vary in Leadup to Mandate Deadline

Religious Exemption: Almost no Teachers, Staff Claiming Medical Exemptions

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With Washington state schools still racing to get staff members either vaccinated against COVID-19 or exempted by next month, many of Lewis County’s smallest school districts are reporting varied rates of their workers willing to get the poke. 

The Chronicle reached out to nearly a dozen local school districts over the past couple days to inquire about the number of staff who have been vaccinated or filed religious-medical exemptions in the leadup to the Oct. 18 deadline set by Gov. Jay Inslee. 

On Aug. 18, Inslee signed a mandate requiring all 160,000 K-12 public and private school employees in the state to get the vaccine or file an exemption, according to the Washington state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI). Employees have until Oct. 4 to complete their inoculations to be fully vaccinated by the Oct. 18 deadline. This also applies to some contractors and volunteers. 

Students at this time are not required to be vaccinated against COVID-19. 

Employees can file either a medical exemption, which requires documented verification, or a religious exemption for a “sincerely held religious belief.” After filing, the district must allow accommodations for those employees, which may include regular COVID-19 testing or mandatory face coverings in the absence of a mask mandate. 

At Morton, a school district serving about 328 students, more than half of its staff of 73 have filed religious exemptions, said Superintendent John Hannah. The district has accounted for all of its staff, with only 33 — or 45% of total employees — confirming their vaccination. 

“We had a jump on this prior to the governor’s mandate coming out,” Hannah said of confirming vaccinations. “Once we heard that the mandate was going to come, we had a lot (of employees) telling us, ‘we want to go the exemptions route.” 

The district didn’t deny any requests for religious exemption, he said. 

“We do not judge religion. We do not judge the quality. If they’re willing to write a statement saying they have a deeply held belief, and they’re willing to write that they’re willing to follow the accommodations, we accept those,” Hannah said. 

When asked if he was worried about the health of his staff given the low vaccination rate, Hannah said the district is working around the clock to follow health, social distancing and disinfection guidelines to prevent transmission in the classroom. So far, there’s been no transmission the district knows of inside the classroom. 

Tenino and Napavine school districts are on the higher end of the vaccination spectrum, with about 75% and 80%, respectively, of their employees vaccinated. 

“We tried to make sure we’re being consistent with the guidance we’ve received and definitely encouraging staff to get vaccinated,” said Tenino Superintendent Clint Endicott. “We have a lot of landscape in front of us and it’s hard to tell where we’ll be.” 

With a staff of about 170, Tenino still has to account for about 15 or so staff members before it satisfies the mandate. Close to 30 staff members have filed religious exemptions. 

Toledo, which employs 132 staff members and instructs about 800 students, has confirmed about 96 of its staff are fully or partially vaccinated, said Superintendent Chris Rust. All 25 exemptions filed have been for religious purposes, and about eight staff members are undecided or unaccounted for. 



Rust said 1% of Toledo’s total staff have decided to separate from employment due to the mandate. When asked, other school districts confirmed they hadn’t experienced any loss of staff due to the mandate. 

Adna, which has a staff of about 77, has confirmed roughly 46 of its staff members have been vaccinated against COVID-19, said Superintendent Thad Nelson. That comes out to about 60% of staff. They still have some accounting to do. 

At Onalaska, whose staff of 121 care for and teach 836 students, about 86% — or about 104 staff — have confirmed vaccination or filed an exemption. 

“This certainly has been a challenge for all of us. We will be working on contingency plans if we cannot retain 100% of our current staff. I am confident that our doors will remain open after Oct. 18 and we will continue to provide an education to all of our students who are on campus.  We have about a month to get this done,” Superintendent Jeff Davis wrote in a Sept. 14 update to the Onalaska School District website.

While transmission remains minimal in the classroom, districts have voiced frustrations with maintaining instruction in the classroom. 

Endicott, the Tenino superintendent, said he was thoroughly concerned with his level of staffing and maintaining operations if classrooms have to quarantine. At least one classroom so far this year was advised to quarantine due to contact tracing. 

“We don’t have any margin of error,” he said of his staffing levels. “It’s hard for teachers to be gone in general because they know it’s tough for the kids.” 

Pe Ell Superintendent Kyle MacDonald was the only district leader who declined to give The Chronicle vaccination and exemption numbers, citing privacy concerns for his small staff of 47. 

Superintendents from Rochester, Oakville, Mossyrock, White Pass and Winlock did not return calls prior to deadline. 

When it comes to COVID-19, Lewis County remains one of the least vaccinated counties in Western Washington. About 48.3% of the population over the age of 12 have been fully vaccinated against the viral disease, which has killed about 101 county residents and more than 7,400 Washingtonians. 

Transmission remains overwhelmingly high in Lewis County, with Lewis County Public Health and Social Services reporting this week a case rate of 920 cases per 100,000 people in the past two weeks. 

OSPI says the mandate was issued at the guidance of state Superintendent Chris Reykdal because the state experienced a 65-80% increase in the number of cases in children between June and July this year — the highest out of any age group. 

Because students under the age of 12 aren’t eligible yet to receive the vaccine, OSPI said “our education staff must join together to create as strong of a protective barrier as we can.”