Middletown School Board Officially Abolishes COVID-Era Policies

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — At their most recent school board meeting, held last Tuesday night, Jan. 24, the Middletown Board of Education voted to formally abolish two controversial pandemic-era policies:

Policy 1648.11, known as the "The Road Forward Covid-19 policy," and Policy 1648.13, which required all New Jersey school employees either get the coronavirus vaccine, or be subject to twice-weekly testing, were both abolished.

This was a largely ceremonial, symbolic step to wipe the policies off the books, said Board vice president Jacqueline Tobacco, but she said it was important to "make it official."

These were both policies mandated by the state of New Jersey, which school districts were forced to comply with. Middletown is one of the few school districts in the state to take the ceremonial step of officially dissolving the policies.

Policy 1648.13 required all New Jersey school staff either get "fully vaccinated" with the coronavirus vaccine, or submit to in-school COVID-19 testing twice a week. Middletown BOE president Frank Capone said at the time many teachers and staff found the twice-weekly testing to be invasive, and an invasion of their right to medical privacy and their civil liberties.

Policy 1648.11 was a lengthy set of rules handed down by the state that NJ school districts had to follow in order to reopen, including mandated vaccinations, twice-weekly-COVID testing, forced mask-wearing by students and teachers; students and staff being required to stay home for a certain number of days if they tested positive, and contact tracing.

There were claps from the audience as the school board voted to end both policies last Tuesday night. Here is video of their Jan. 24 meeting: