LA GRANDE — An individualized approach will be used by the La Grande School District when establishing protocols for employees who choose not to be vaccinated before the state-ordered Oct. 18 deadline and instead opt out for a medical or religious exception.

Building administrators throughout the school district will be meeting with staff members who have been granted exceptions to determine what steps they will have to take to protect them and best address their individual needs, according to Scott Carpenter, the La Grande School District’s assistant superintendent.

“Employees will be provided with options to protect their safety and provide flexibility,” he said.

Options will likely include regular testing for COVID-19, wearing masks that provide extra protection and daily screenings that could involve temperature checks.

Carpenter said it is not known yet how many employees have been vaccinated for COVID-19 or will seek religious or medical exceptions. Employees have been asked by the school district to indicate by Oct. 4 whether they are vaccinated or will seek an exception.

“We want to know everyone’s intentions by Oct. 4 so that we can plan our future,” said La Grande School District Superintendent George Mendoza.

The Union School District will also have a similar protocol in place for employees who are granted an exception from a COVID-19 vaccination.

“We will be developing plans on a case-by-case basis,” said Union School District Superintendent Carter Wells. “We want to create a comfortable and safe environment that our staff members approve of.”

The Cove School District is in the process of determining what protocol it will follow with regard to employees granted exceptions for religious or medical reasons. Earl Pettit, superintendent, said decisions will be made in part on the basis of the number of exceptions granted. He said if a large number of employees are granted exceptions, more would have to be done to mitigate the risk throughout the district.

Imbler School District Superintendent Doug Hislop said he is waiting for additional information from the state before determining what protocols will be used for those granted exceptions.

Hislop said he does not yet know which members of his staff are vaccinated for COVID-19. He said Oct. 11 is the deadline he has set for Imbler’s staff to inform him of their vaccination status or whether they will file for an exception if not vaccinated.

In the North Powder School District, a decision on the protocol for exceptions will likely be determined during COVID-19 impact negotiations with the representatives of its teachers union and its certified staff union.

Certified staff include secretaries, cooks and custodians. Negotiations are set to start in early October.

Both unions requested that negotiations regarding the impact of COVID-19 be conducted, North Powder Superintendent Lance Dixon said.

Dixon said initially many referred to those seeking religious or medical exceptions as seeking exemptions, even though state documents used the word exceptions.

Dixon said the word exception is more accurate since it means a waiver is made if one follows mitigations that could include the wearing of extra protective equipment.

Dixon said that when an exemption is granted, one does not have to do anything to maintain it.

The North Powder superintendent is confident everything will work out for the best in terms of establishing protocols related to the vaccination mandates.

“Our goal all along is keeping all of our employees,” he said. “As long as we work in that direction we will be fine.”