Framingham School District Self-Reporting Rates: 63% of Teachers, 39% Custodians, & Only 13% Food Service Workers Have Received COVID-19 Vaccine

Originally posted on August 29. Updated on August 31 at 1:44 p.m.

FRAMINGHAM – Wednesday, September 1 is the first day of classes for students in grades 1-12.

Students will be in-person, and no longer remote, but they will be wearing face coverings still due to the coronavirus pandemic. Some students in middle and high school are vaccinated but students at the elementary level are just not eligible for a vaccine yet.

Students, ages 12, and older are eligible to be administered a COVID-19 vaccine, as are all administrators, teachers, and staff eligible for the vaccine.

But not all who are eligible for the vaccine, have received the vaccine.

SOURCE received data from the public school district that shows only 63% of the teachers in Unit A of the Framingham Teachers Association, have informed the district of their vaccine.

The self-reporting vaccine rates for custodians is only at 39% and the self-reporting vaccine rate for food service workers is at just 13%.

Last week, Framingham Public School Superintendent Bob Tremblay reported to the School Committee the percentage of students at Framingham High who are fully vaccinated.

The Framingham High student vaccine percentages were:

Seniors: 61%

Juniors: 57%

Sophomores: 56%

Freshmen: 53%

The data however was from the beginning of August and not today, August 25.

“Our data on vaccinated students ages 12 years of age and older comes from a comparison of COVID vaccine data from our district student electronic health system (maintained by our school nurses) and the Massachusetts Immunization Information System” explained FPS Director of Health & Wellness Judy Styer to SOURCE.

The Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education has said that come October 1, schools that have an 80% vaccine rate may go face covering optional for those individuals who are fully vaccinated.

“We have a way to go to get to 80%,” Tremblay told the School Committee last Wednesday.

Natick High, in comparison, is already at 80%.

SOURCE, after hearing the high school rates, requested data on vaccination rates for the school district’s union and what the percentage rates were at the other schools in the Framingham Public School District.

The Framingham Public Schools Human Resources department supplied these vaccine percentage rates below by union unit and by school.

The Assistant Superintendent of Schools for Human Resources Inna London stressed to the digital news outlet “our information is only as good as the people who provided us with the information. Many people have not provided us with their vaccine information. We are talking with union leaders in hopes of them encouraging members to provide us with their vaccine information.”

Percentage by Unions:

Unit A (teachers): 63%

Unit B (administrators): 70%

Unit C (Custodians): 39%

Unit N (Food services): 13%

Unit P (principals): 78%

Unit S (administrative support staff): 58.3%

Unit T (paraprofessionals): 62.2%

Unit V (nonbargaining): 42.2%

Unit Y (substitutes): 24.69%

SOURCE reached out to Framingham Teachers Association President Christine Mulroney for comment on vaccination rates for her union members.

“I don’t know where they are getting their figures,’ said Mulroney. “We have not been required to submit our vaccination cards.”

Presently, Framingham Public Schools is not mandating teachers and staff to be vaccinated and the district is not requiring administrators, teachers, and staff to submit their vaccination cards to human resources.

But earlier this month, the Massachusetts Teachers Association’s Board of Directors voted 46-4 to require vaccinations or regular COVID-19 testing for those who are not vaccinated. The state’s teachers union said local unions should negotiate this with their school district.

“The MTA is a union of 115,000 educators. Our number one priority is to return to safe, full in- person learning with our students, from preK through higher education. Since the beginning of the pandemic, we and our 400 affiliated locals have led the way on implementing the CDC- recommended COVID-19 mitigation strategies — including ventilation upgrades, masking, distancing, vaccination and regular testing — to protect the health and safety of students, educators and our communities. We are in unprecedented times,” wrote the state’s union.

“Vaccination is our strongest protection against COVID-19,” wrote the Massachusetts Teachers Association in August.

“Yet children under the age of 12 are not eligible for the vaccine, and the vaccination rate of eligible children between the ages of 12 and 18 is still too low to deter transmission. We take seriously our responsibility to protect our students, preK through higher education, our members and their families, and our communities. While research indicates that educators already have high rates of vaccination, the MTA supports required vaccination of all education workers and eligible students in our schools and colleges. We also support regular COVID-19 testing in lieu of vaccination for those not yet eligible or those for whom vaccination is not medically advisable.,” wrote the state union.

The Framingham public school district provided the following % vaccination rates by school and by unit. (Editor’s Note: Again, these are self-reported numbers to the district)

Framingham High:
Unit A: 64%
Unit B: 84%
Unit S: 40%
Unit T: 55%

Cameron Middle:
Unit A: 41%
Unit B: 100%
Unit S: 66%
Unit T: 64%

Fuller Middle:
Unit A: 57%
Unit B: 100%
Unit S: 100%
Unit T: 64%

Walsh Middle:
Unit A: 73%
Unit B: 66%
Unit S: 66%
Unit T: 57%

Back in the spring of 2021, both the state union and the local Framingham union pushed for teachers to be eligible for vaccinations before they would support a return to full in-person classroom teaching.

When Governor Charlie Baker and Education Commission Jeff Riley pushed for a full in-person return on April 5, Mulroney had pushed for April 26 for elementary teachers, which was after school vacation week, which she said would have given teachers more time to get the vaccine.

Here are the vaccination percentage for the public school district’s elementary and preK schools. (Editor’s Note: again these were provided by the district but the district said these are self reported numbers.)

Barbieri:
Unit A: 55%
Unit B: 22%
Unit S: 50%
Unit T: 63%

Brophy:
Unit A: 60%
Unit B: 100%
Unit S: 100%
Unit T: 68%

Dunning:
Unit A: 68%
Unit B: 50%
Unit S:50%
Unit T: 61%

Harmony Grove:
Unit A: 56%
Unit B: 100%
Unit S: 100%
Unit T: 54%

Hemenway:
Unit A: 79%
Unit B: 50%
Unit S: 100%
Unit T: 52%

King:
Unit A: 52%
Unit S: 50%
Unit T: 15%

Editor’s Note: Unit B not provided for King, which has a new principal in 2021-22

McCarthy:
Unit A: 58%
Unit B:100%
Unit S: 50%
Unit T: 53%

Potter Road:
Unit A: 70%
Unit B:100%
Unit S: 100%
Unit T: 77%

Stapleton:
Unit A: 67%
Unit B:100%
Unit T: 76%

Editor’s Note: Unit B not provided for Stapleton, which has a new principal in 2021-2022

BLOCKS:
Unit A: 77%
Unit B: 50%
Unit S: 100%
Unit T: 86%

Oregon and Washington have ordered teachers in their states to get the vaccine or face discipline, including up to termination.

California, Connecticut, New Mexico, New Jersey, and Hawaii are planning to force teachers to make the decision between the vaccine or regular testing.

“Cities and towns have the primary relationship in Massachusetts with the school’s employees, and I certainly would hope that most folks — especially since the teachers unions have expressed an interest in supporting vaccinations for everybody in the school building — would be willing to engage in those discussions and see where they can go,” Gov, Baker said yesterday after touring a back-to-school vaccine clinic in Everett.

Framingham Public Schools has teamed up with the Framingham Coronavirus Community Group and the MetroWest Pharmacy to offer multiple vaccine clinics in September, including ones at Harmony Grove Elementary, Framingham High, Cameron Middle, Fuller Middle, and Walsh Middle.

The public school district also announced earlier this month it would hold vaccine clinics at its middle and high schools in September.

Clinics will be held at Framingham High and Walsh Middle on Sept. 17.

Clinics will be held at Fuller and Cameron Middle on Sept. 24.

While Mayor Yvonne Spicer signed a pledge to support mandatory vaccine for city employees, she has nothing beyond signing a pledge to explore the option.

Somerville’s Mayor has however mandated all of his City employees be fully vaccinated by November 1.

And Gov. Baker is mandating all state employees be vaccinated.