“I had to make my choice,” GP parent waits to enroll daughter after state teacher vaccine mandate takes effect

GRANTS PASS, Ore. —The upcoming state’s vaccine mandate will require school staff to be vaccinated next month. Some people are holding their kids out of school until that day comes.

Grants Pass School District parent Todd Gallaher’s oldest daughter, was enrolled to start kindergarten at Lincoln Elementary School this year. However, with the ongoing surge in COVID-19 cases, and the contagiousness of the Delta variant, he decided to home-school her.

He says he doesn’t want his daughter in a classroom, not knowing a teacher’s vaccination status.

“I understand people want to make their choices, but I had to make my choice, and my choice is to not participate until everybody kinda gets on board,” said Gallaher.

He says the school district understands his concerns. His daughter will return to the classroom after the vaccine mandate is in place on October 18th.

The state says it’s up to the school itself to make the decision about each teacher’s employment status, after that date.

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Jenna King is the 6pm and 11pm anchor for NBC5 News. Jenna is a Burbank, CA native. She graduated from the University of Oregon with a degree in Broadcast Journalism and a minor in Sports Business. During her time at Oregon she was part of the student-run television station, Duck TV. She also grew her passion for sports through her internship with the PAC 12 Network. When Jenna is not in the newsroom you can find her rooting for her hometown Dodgers, exploring the outdoors or binging on the latest Netflix release.
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