Vaccinate Somerset County Teachers Now, Letter To Murphy Says

SOMERSET COUNTY, NJ — The Somerset County Education Association, which represents more than 7,000 public school employees in Somerset County, is calling on Governor Phil Murphy to prioritize public school employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine now.

"Public schools are the lifeblood of our society. Reopening safely is imperative for New Jersey to move forward educationally, economically, socially, and emotionally," according to the letter.

By prioritizing school staff it will help to safely reopen Somerset County schools.

"The most effective way to ensure the safety and success of each district’s reopening plan is to offer vaccines to educators immediately. The sooner we allow educators to become vaccinated, the sooner school districts can reopen more facets of our education system, including in-person learning, sports, graduations, arts programs, and other essential extracurricular activities," according to the letter.

Several other school districts have also put pressure on Murphy to vaccinate teachers and school staff including in Scotch Plains-Fanwood, Mercer County and Livingston. Read More: NJ Teachers Want COVID Vaccine; Gov. Murphy Has Possible Timeline

The closest Murphy has come to publicly saying when teachers may get vaccinated came during the "Ask Governor Murphy" program on WBGO on Jan. 28th, which was almost two weeks ago.

During the program, Murphy told the station and its callers that he believed educators would be able to start getting vaccinated "within weeks." You can listen to the segment here at the 12-minute mark.

Read the full letter from Somerset County education leaders below:

Dear Governor Murphy,

As representatives of more than 7,000 public school educators in Somerset County, we implore you to give educators the highest possible priority to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Public schools are the lifeblood of our society. Reopening safely is imperative for New Jersey to move forward educationally, economically, socially, and emotionally.

Our members include teachers, paraprofessionals, nurses, secretaries, custodians, bus drivers, and many other individuals essential to our thriving schools. We recognize more than anyone the dire need to return to normalcy as quickly as it is safe to do so. However, we must also ensure that we do not revert back to more remote learning due to sudden quarantines and lack of staff.

The most effective way to ensure the safety and success of each district’s reopening plan is to offer vaccines to educators immediately. The sooner we allow educators to become vaccinated, the sooner school districts can reopen more facets of our education system, including in-person learning, sports, graduations, arts programs, and other essential extracurricular activities.

We applaud the extraordinary efforts of healthcare and frontline workers to combat this pandemic. We certainly agree with the necessity for them and our medically vulnerable population to be vaccinated as quickly as possible. We must also recognize that when our school bus drivers open their doors to take children to schools, we become frontline workers too. When those students walk into the buildings, they’re greeted by teachers and support staff, congregating indoors to provide the best education we can. We want nothing more than to be able to open our doors to all of our students once again. With your leadership, we can make that happen sooner with immediate priority access to vaccinations for educators.

Sincerely,

Dan Epstein, President, Somerset County Education Association

Peggy Doorly, Co-President, Bedminster Education Association

Jolanta Kolodziejski, Co-President, Bedminster Education Association

Melanie Dupuis, Co-President, Bernards Township Education Association

Karen Pellicone, Co-President, Bernards Township Education Association

Loren Paxson, President, Bound Brook Education Association

Randi Lee Childers, President, Branchburg Twp. Education Association

Laura Kress, President, Bridgewater-Raritan Education Association

Ron Schmidt, President, Bridgewater-Raritan Transportation Education Association

Dan Mayer, President, Franklin Township Education Association

Chris Fox, President, Green Brook Education Association

Henry Goodhue, President, Hillsborough Education Association

Dan McMahon, President, Manville Education Association

Jim Dolan, President, Montgomery Township Education Association

Theresa Fuller, President, North Plainfield Education Association

Brett Stibitz, President, Somerset County Ed. Services Commission Education Association

Carol Shields, President, Somerset County Retired Educators Association

Andrew Coslit, President, Somerset County Vocational-Technical Education Association

Lynn Weltler, President, Somerset Hills Education Association

Patrick Frain, President, Somerville Education Association

Ryan Cullinane, Co-President, South Bound Brook Education Association

Kristina Fallon-Tomaino, Co-President, South Bound Brook Education Association

Nancy Andrews, President, Warren Education Association

Stacey Imbimbo, Co-President, Watchung Boro Education Association

John Primeau, Co-President, Watchung Boro Education Association

Greg O’Reilly, President, Watchung Hills Regional Education Association