August 31, 2021 For Immediate Release
Staff and Student Athlete Vaccination Update
UPDATE: As of June 13, 2023, City Schools will no longer provide COVID testing, service, or support to schools or offices. All COVID-related concerns should be addressed to the Baltimore City Health Department
In the spring, City Schools was the first district in Maryland to require that all school-based staff be vaccinated or participate in weekly COVID testing. As a result of this early work, 85 percent of our teachers and 92 percent of our principals are vaccinated.
City Schools is taking the next step this fall by making vaccinations a requirement for all staff and requiring all high school student-athletes to be vaccinated to participate in sports starting with the winter and spring sports seasons.
STAFF:
To build on our work from the spring, the district would like to expand on our mandate by requiring all employees to be fully vaccinated. We are working with our union partners on the details of this requirement, and we will provide an update in the coming days.
HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT-ATHLETES:
- High school students participating in winter and spring sports will be required to be vaccinated before their seasons begin. For winter sports, this means all winter athletes must be fully vaccinated by November 1.
- City Schools is not requiring vaccination for athletes participating in fall sports because the season is underway. City Schools strongly encourages all fall student-athletes to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
Getting vaccinated as quickly as possible helps ensure our student athletes' health and safety and reduces disruptions to the season caused by quarantines.
Student-athletes who are not vaccinated are required to quarantine for 10 days if they are a close contact of an individual who is COVID-positive. We've already seen that quarantines of close contacts on athletic teams can mean that large numbers of team members can be quarantined at once -- potentially resulting in forfeited games.
On the other hand, students identified as close contacts who are fully vaccinated will not have to quarantine if they are symptom-free. This precaution will enable student-athletes to participate in games and practices during that time. Student-athlete vaccinations keep our students safe while allowing them to play with minimized disruption.
Thank you, as always, for your commitment to City Schools and our students and families.