Prince William Schools To End Mandatory Weekly Testing For Unvaccinated Staff

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, VA — Unvaccinated employees at Prince William County Schools will no longer be required to undergo mandatory weekly COVID testing. The Prince William County School Board voted 5-3 to end the testing at a meeting on Wednesday night.

In September, the school board passed a resolution that required PWCS employees to disclose their vaccination status. Under the policy, all unvaccinated employees who had direct contact with students were required to undergo weekly COVID testing and disclose the results to the human resources department.

Adele Jackson, Jennifer Wall, Justin Wilk, Lisa Zargarpur and School Board Chairman Babur Lateef voted to suspend the testing requirement. Lillie Jessie, Diane Raulston, Loree Williams voted to keep it in place.

Though the original resolution was passed in September, it was not implemented until January. School officials said that a lack of available tests kept them from implementing the testing mandate sooner.

"In the beginning of the school year when resolution was passed, our focus was getting schools open and wanting to keep them open,” said Jennifer Wall, who represents the Gainesville district on the school board. "We've met that goal without this program being in place."

During Wednesday's meeting, Lateef said that school board members unanimously passed the original resolution thinking that unvaccinated people were more likely to spread to spread COVID.

Though vaccinated people can still contract and spread COVID-19, they are still significantly less likely to get sick. The Virginia Department of Health noted that unvaccinated people are four times more likely to contract COVID-19 than fully vaccinated people.

Wednesday's school board meeting came hours after Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed SB-739 into law. The law makes masks optional at public schools across Virginia, effective March 1.

In a letter to families this week, superintendent LaTanya McDade said that the school system is reviewing its mitigation measures to follow the new legislation.

"As always, any changes to our mitigation strategies will be made thoughtfully with the safety, health, and instructional needs of our students and staff at the forefront," McDade wrote. She noted that the school system would provide an update on Friday evening.

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