Middletown Teacher Says Union Pushed Vaccine Talks With Students

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — A teacher in the Middletown school district is publicly speaking about a union training she said she deeply disagrees with, where teachers were encouraged to talk with students about getting a coronavirus vaccine and log whether students — and their parents — had received the vaccine or not.

The teachers union, National Education Association (NEA) already confirmed to Patch that it did indeed provide the virtual training on Aug. 10.

The teacher is Jennifer Mess, a drama/arts teacher at Thorne Middle School in Middletown. This is her 21st year in the Middletown school district and she won teacher of the year in 2020. She was interviewed by FOX on this topic over the weekend; the network has run her story several times.

She is the first teacher to publicly go on the record as having attended the training.

"We got the invitation in August, for a Zoom training. I started watching it and I had to start recording it because I was like, I can't believe they are telling teachers to do this," Mess told Patch Monday. "They were talking about 'helping people on their journey to get vaccinated.' For example, if a student tells you they are concerned about cost, tell them the vaccines are free. If they lack transportation, make a 'transportation plan.' Share that vaccines are free regardless of immigration status. I mean, they are pushing the vaccine — obviously. Does that sound to you like anything a teacher should be doing?"

In early September, NEA spokeswoman Staci Maiers confirmed to Patch that the training was offered and said that in it, teachers across the U.S. were instructed to talk to their students and students' families about getting vaccinated against coronavirus.

"New Jersey schoolteachers and other educators who are members of the National Education Association were invited to join the virtual event, among other NEA members nationwide, on August 10," she said. "As teachers and education support professionals head back to school, they will inevitably get questions about COVID-19 vaccines, and this virtual event was set up as a conversation to prepare them to feel comfortable responding to those likely questions. NEA members were provided tips, such as leading with empathy, for having these conversations around a deadly pandemic."

The spokeswoman for the national teachers union also said: "NEA members want nothing more than to return safely to in-person learning. The science has been clear that vaccinations are one of the best ways to keep students and educators safe and in the classroom, around the school and on campus. Educators are leading conversations to encourage people to learn more about getting vaccinated to help keep students, their families, and our communities stay safe and healthy."

The training was created and presented by Made to Save, a pro-vaccine campaign working with the Biden White House. It was offered by America's two biggest education unions, the NEA and the American Federation of Teachers, to their members. The training session has since expired, but you can read about it here: https://www.mobilize.us/nea/ev...

Teachers were instructed to use an app called "Reach" where they could log the conversations they have with students about the vaccine, said Mess.

The use of the Reach app was also confirmed by the NEA.

The Reach app says on its website that it was developed for use in progressive political campaigns, and has been used in the past by the election campaigns of U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren and Bronx Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Teachers were even encouraged to log the vaccine status of a student's family members and schedule follow-up talks with students to see if the students and their parents had gotten the shot or not. $250 gift cards were promised to the app's "most active users."

"They said you can follow up and track your conversations," said Mess. "Log whether they've been vaccinated, if they want more info., etc. And towards the end they talked about gift cards, saying 'You could win a gift card for using the Reach app the most often!' But by that point, I was just in shock and disbelief."

"Regardless of our views on vaccines, we are just trying to get back into our classrooms and give these students some sense of normalcy after the past two years," she continued. "If a student has questions about a vaccine, they can call the nurse or ask their parents or doctor. They have parents to do these things. I'm not a medical professional. And I don't put my opinions in the classroom. This was literally a step-by-step guide ... set up a transportation plan? Do they think we should be taking the parents' job? Because I don't. And if anyone has questions they should talk to a medical professional, not a teacher."

Mess also said when some teachers started typing in the Zoom training, 'Why, as an educator, am I doing this? This is none of my business,' Made to Save staffers closed the chat box down. The training also told teachers not to bring up the topic of vaccine mandates at all, unless the student asked.

She said she has a full recording of the Aug. 10 training saved. She said some teachers on the training loved it and enthusiastically thanked the union for offering it.

Dawn Hiltner, a spokeswoman for the New Jersey teachers union, the NJEA, stressed at the time that it was not the state teachers union offering the training and that it came from the national teachers union. (Any member of the New Jersey teachers union is automatically a member of the national union.)

"We've never said that they should be talking to kids about vaccines, " said Hiltner. "I don't know why they are doing that. That's not us."

Additionally, no union training is mandatory; it is always optional to attend any union training, Hiltner stressed.

Middletown Board of Education member Jacqueline Tobacco was the first to publicly say the union was offering such trainings. Tobacco previously said several teachers had spoken with her privately about the Aug. 10 Zoom session, and that they were made uncomfortable by it. She said they did not want to reveal their names.

That's why in late August, Tobacco proposed this policy that would prohibit any Middletown teacher or staff member from encouraging/discouraging COVID-19 vaccination with students. It would also prevent a teacher from knowing a student's vaccination status.

The policy passed almost unanimously at the Aug. 24 Middletown school board meeting.

"As a board, we have decided we would prefer there be no discussion of vaccination, whether pro or against," said Tobacco at the time.

"We are not going to allow staff to encourage or discuss vaccines with our students," agreed board president Joan Minnuies. "We will put on the web page where vaccines are available if people want them, but we do not want them discussed with our students."

Mike Mason, himself a Middletown school teacher and president of the Middletown teachers union, previously told Patch the unionized teachers he represents have no problem following the Middletown BOE's "no-COVID-vaccine-talk" policy.

"The MTEA will continue to follow all federal, state and local laws as well as Board of Education policy, including, if need be, not discussing COVID vaccination status with students," Mason told Patch before the school year began.

"The 2021-2022 school year has already presented us with many unique challenges, yet the members of the MTEA remain focused on doing our jobs," he added Monday, when asked about Mess' recent interviews on Fox. "Rehashing an old political argument would just be another needless distraction."

Mess said she actually told Fox about the training in August, when it was offered, and she has no idea why they just decided to run her interviews this past weekend.

The Middletown school board said their policy only applies to coronavirus vaccines, and that it would not prohibit a teacher from talking about vaccine development as a historical or scientific topic, such as the development of the polio vaccine.

Related: Middletown BOE May Prohibit Teachers Discussing COVID-19 Vaccine (Aug. 19)

Middletown Teachers' Union Will Abide By No-COVID Vaccine Talks (Aug. 31)

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