Middletown Teachers' Union Will Abide By No-COVID Vaccine Talks

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — Mike Mason, president of the Middletown teachers' union, said the district's teachers have no issue following this policy passed last week by the Middletown Board of Education, which forbids Middletown teachers from discussing coronavirus vaccines with their students.

Mason is president of the Middletown Township Education Association (MTEA) and also an eighth grade science teacher at Thorne Middle School.

"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 on Monday of this week.

Board member Jacqueline Tobacco first suggested the policy to prevent teachers from discussing COVID vaccine status with their students and encouraging/discouraging vaccines. It would also prevent a teacher from knowing a student's vaccine status. Similarly, employment lawyers told NJ.com this week that parents would likely not be able to know a teacher's COVID vaccine status, as such info. is protected by medical privacy.

This no-COVID-vaccine-talk policy was approved by a majority of the Board at the most recent Middletown BOE meeting last Tuesday, Aug. 24. The only Middletown BOE member who voted against it was Tom Giaimo.

Tobacco previously said she does not want teachers influencing their students about the vaccine in any way, whether it is encouraging students to be vaccinated or discouraging them from getting the shot.

"We are not going to allow staff to encourage or discuss vaccines with our students," said board president Joan Minnuies, who supports the ban. "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."

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

What is unclear, however, is a teacher could discuss development of the coronavirus vaccine.

Mason also expressed his dislike of Tobacco, saying this week:

"The Middletown Township Education Association encourages its members to ignore the current political arguments regarding the opening of this school year and instead focus on our families, classrooms and students. Furthermore, we expect the Board to adhere to these same guidelines and stop spreading misinformation and blaming our dedicated educators for policies that are clearly outside of our control."

When asked specifically what "misinformation and blaming" by the Board he was referring to, Mason sent us tweets from Tobacco's Twitter feed, where she has retweeted statements critical of teachers' unions, teacher union leadership and tweeted that schools should reopen during the pandemic.

Tobacco did not immediately respond.

Also, last week Mason published a letter sent to Middletown's unionized workforce in which he was very critical of the Board of Ed., telling teachers to ignore "Board members who ... frequently blame the 'evil' NJEA and MTEA for ruining America."

The letter was widely circulated in Middletown.

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