The Barrington School Committee has mandated that all district employees be vaccinated against Covid-19, but there has not been any discussion about mandating booster shots yet.

Following the Dec. 8 Barrington School Committee meeting, committee vice chairwoman Dr. Megan Douglas commented on whether booster shots would be mandatory for district employees. 

“It’s not required by the CDC yet, so it can’t be discussed yet. We’re not there yet,” she said, adding that the local school committee would discuss that topic once the Centers for Disease Control alters its stance on the issue.

Dr. Douglas, who also sits on the school department’s Re-entry Task Force, said the CDC currently considers someone to be fully vaccinated if they have received two Pfizer or Moderna doses or one Johnson and Johnson dose. She said the CDC is not yet requiring people to have a booster shot in order to be considered fully vaccinated. 

“That’s why the data is hard to track,” she said. “(They’re) still tracking people who say they’re fully vaccinated, but you don’t know if they’re boosted or not.”

Teachers were among the first people in the state to be eligible for the vaccine — many were deemed fully vaccinated in April or even earlier. That means the six-month window after which they could receive a booster shot arrived about two months ago. 

Lawsuits filed

The Barrington School Committee held an executive session meeting (not open to the public) on Dec. 2 to discuss bargaining with NEAB (the local teachers union) “on the effects of the Committee Covid-19 vaccine mandate.” 

The school committee also held another executive session meeting on Dec. 8 to discuss two lawsuits that have been filed against the local school department: Legal Insurrection Foundation v. Barrington Public Schools; and DiOrio, Hines and Thurber v. Barrington Public Schools. 

Brittany DiOrio, Stephanie Hines, and Kerri Thurber are the three Barrington teachers who were suspended without pay and face termination on Jan. 1 because they will not abide by the district’s vaccine mandate policy. 

All three teachers filed religious exemption requests, but the school committee denied the requests, stating that the teachers’ unvaccinated status created an undue burden for the district.