The New York City Department of Education has fired another 850 teachers and classroom aides for failing to comply with a COVID-19 vaccine mandate, according to the New York Post. The latest firings bring the total to nearly 2,000 school employees fired for failing to comply with the education workers’ vaccine mandate imposed by former NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2021.
“About 1,300 DOE employees who took a year’s unpaid leave — with benefits — agreed to show proof of COVID vaccination by Sept. 5 or be ‘deemed to have voluntarily resigned.’
Of those staffers, 450 got a shot by the deadline and ‘are returning to their prior schools or work locations,’ DOE officials told The Post. They include some 225 teachers and 135 paraprofessionals,” the New York Post reported. Back in February, New York City fired more than a thousand workers who failed to comply with the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate, the mayor’s office said.