CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools will soon require employees to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination or undergo weekly testing. 

CMS leaders say this is not a vaccine mandate. Instead, the district is requiring employees to report whether they've been vaccinated, and participate in weekly testing if they are not vaccinated. 

CMS employees will be asked to provide vaccination status documentation beginning the week of September 20.

Teachers and staff will fill out a questionnaire on their vaccination status and then provide proof of vaccination by uploading a picture of their vaccination card. The information will be provided through he Qualrics platform, which CMS used to gather health attestations and symptom screening last school year. 

"Mandatory testing will be weekly for staff members who do not demonstrate proof of full vaccination," the district wrote. The phased testing, which will involve PCR tests, will start with elementary school staff the week of September 27. 

Testing will be "pooled" in groups with mixed tests, CMS says. If a positive test is returned from a pooled sample, rapid tests will be given to each person in the sample group. 

Families will also have the opportunity to opt-in students for diagnostic testing. CMS says the testing will help identify positive cases among symptomatic students and can help reduce quarantine time for those identified as close contacts.

Opt-in forms will be made available in the next few weeks, with an October 11 anticipated launch date. Students must have a signed opt-in form on file in order to participate in diagnostic testing. 

CMS plans to stick to the following schedule: 

• September 20: CMS employees will be asked to provide proof of vaccination
• September 27: CMS plans to launch staff testing at half of elementary schools and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Academy and Metro School
• October 4: The testing program will expand to the other half of CMS elementary schools
• October 11: Middle schools and K-8 schools will begin staff testing, and students to have access to diagnostic testing
• October 25: High school staff will begin testing

Transportation employees will be included in testing after the program is launched at all school sites. 

CMS officials say staff members who do not cooperate with the testing program could face consequences and even termination. 

"This is an expectation that our employees follow," CMS Chief Human Resources Officer Christine Pejot said. "It's also incumbent upon us to make our employees feel comfortable and do what they can to answer their questions ... and to understand that we're doing this to keep our staff and students as safe as possible."

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools board voted 7 to 2 to allow CMS Superintendent Earnest Winston to close a classroom for quarantine if he deems COVID-19 numbers too high for safety.