By Blake Haas

BLOOMINGTON – The leader of District 87 is calling Gov. Pritzker’s new vaccine mandate for educators “a positive thing” as students return to the classroom.

On Thursday, Gov. Pritzker announced all school staff and health care workers would have to be vaccinated.

The new mandate includes pre-school through college teachers and staff.

District 87 Superintendent Dr. Barry Reilly said he supports the Governors new mandate.

“I’m looking at this as a positive thing for sure. I think I would encourage everybody who is eligible to get the vaccination. I think that just helps us get to a place where more kids are going to be in school; less kids are going to have to be out of school because of this pandemic, and that is a good thing.”

According to District 87’s COVID data tracker, 11 students have recently tested positive, along with one staff member. Nine additional students and one staff member are deemed close contacts and are in quarantine.

“I do think the vast majority of our staff are already fully vaccinated, so I don’t think it’s going to be a large number, but certainly moving in that direction encourages more people to get vaccinated,” Dr. Reilly added. “The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has fully approved of the Pfizer vaccine, the one that is good for ages 12 and older; I view that as a very positive thing.”

In other business, the District 87 school board recently approved a new three-year contract with the Bloomington Education Association teachers’ union.

Blake Haas can be reached at [email protected].