Teachers Union Is Promoting Vaccine Talks: Middletown BOE Member

NEW JERSEY — At the Aug. 18 Middletown Board of Education meeting, board member Jacqueline Tobacco said Middletown school teachers were invited to participate in a training from the teachers union that encouraged them to discuss their students get the coronavirus vaccine.

"The NJEA had trainings, training teachers on how to influence students on vaccination. I was the recipient of multiple texts from teachers in our district," said Tobacco publicly at the meeting. "As a board, we have decided we would prefer there be no discussion of vaccination, whether pro or against."

While Tobacco said the training was led by the state teachers union, it was actually conducted by the national teachers union, the National Education Association (NEA), which confirmed it did host this optional virtual training session on Aug. 10. (Tobacco refused multiple requests to comment further for this article.) In that training, teachers nationwide were instructed how to talk to their students and students' families about getting vaccinated for coronavirus. The training session has since expired, but you can read about it here: https://www.mobilize.us/nea/ev...

"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," said NEA spokeswoman Staci Maiers.

"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," she said. "NEA members were provided tips, such as leading with empathy, for having these conversations around a deadly pandemic."

Any member of the New Jersey teachers union is automatically a member of the national union, and all members are invited to any training hosted by the NEA, said Dawn Hiltner, a spokeswoman for the New Jersey teachers 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."

However, no union training is mandatory; it is always optional to attend any training, she stressed.

On this portal for the Aug. 10 training, the national teachers union described it as:

"We know that the way to end the pandemic is by having as many people as possible choose to get vaccinated. Educators and school staff can help students and their caregivers find credible vaccine information and get the facts to respond to misinformation. We want to practice how to have conversations about the COVID-19 vaccines because they can help save lives."

Mike Mason, the president of the Middletown Education Association (MTEA), the union that specifically represents Middletown school district teachers, said he has not heard of any Middletown teachers participating in that training session, or sessions like it.

"Despite Ms. Tobacco's allegations and continued misrepresentations, I am unaware of the participation of any member of the MTEA in a COVID discussion program," he told Patch.

"As the discussion was not an MTEA event, I do not know who participated," he later clarified.

After this article was published, Tobacco sent us screenshots from a Middletown teacher who she said sat in on the training.

Training launched to build trust in vaccines

The Aug. 10 union training was launched by Made to Save, an initiative of Civic Nation. On its website, Civic Nation said it launched Made to Save on Aug. 6, as a "public education and grassroots campaign" to make COVID-19 vaccines more equitable for communities of color and to build trust in the vaccines. Made to Save said it has partnered with "a variety of corporate, non-profit, labor and healthcare partners."

Communities of color have been some of the hardest hit by the coronavirus, and vaccination rates lag in those communities.

"Working closely with the White House and Department of Health and Human Services, Made to Save focuses on communities disproportionately impacted by the coronavirus, where access to vaccination sites and information is often limited," wrote Made to Save on its launch page. "Campaign priorities are to increase access to the vaccines in communities of color, address vaccination concerns and encourage people to get vaccinated when it is their turn. Those who know someone who has been vaccinated are 40 percent more likely to say they will get a vaccine as soon as they can."

As part of the training, teachers were instructed by the union to use an app called "Reach," where they could log and record the conversations they have with students about the vaccine, and schedule follow-up talks with students. The Reach app is used for progressive organizing, with a description of the Reach app on its website noting that "Reach helps progressive campaigns and organizations meet people where they are. Start your campaign now."

The Reach app says it has been used by the past campaigns of U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren and Bronx Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, both prominent Democrats.

Gift cards were even promised to the app's "most active users." However, it remains unknown what criteria would merit a gift card, or where the gift cards were to.

"Made to Save has hosted dozens of trainings for more than 5,000 people on how to be a vaccine ambassador, including hundreds of educators," said a spokeswoman for Made to Save. "Some trainings are specific for family, friends, students and young people. We were happy to partner with the NEA to provide a training specifically geared toward teachers, who are some of the most trusted messengers in our communities, to get their questions answered about the COVID-19 vaccines and provide tools for them to have conversations with the people around them."

"Our aim is to add capacity to and amplify the work of our on-the-ground partners across the country, so we used the Reach app to help our community members log their conversations," she continued. "Data collected during our use of the Reach app is only used for outreach efforts to follow up on conversations with individuals about the COVID-19 vaccines. Made to Save provides gift cards as an incentive for the most active users of the app."

The training was led by Dr. Alice Chen, a medical doctor who was formerly the director of Doctors for America and is a visiting professor at the Harvard Kennedy School Center for Public Leadership.

In addition to Dr. Chen, Made to Save leadership includes Rev. Matthew Watley, head pastor of the Kingdom Fellowship AME Church in Silver Spring, Maryland and Ashley Allison, a CNN commentator who has worked in both the Obama White House and on the Biden transition team.

Middletown BOE prohibits teachers discussing COVID-19 vaccines

Tobacco said such trainings are why the Middletown BOE suggested this policy that prohibits teachers from discussing COVID vaccine status with their students and encouraging/discouraging vaccines.

Tobacco previously said she does not want teachers influencing their students to get the vaccine in any way, whether it is encouraging students to be vaccinated or discouraging them. It would also prevent a teacher from knowing a student's COVID-19 vaccination status.

The policy was approved at the most recent Middletown BOE meeting last Tuesday, Aug. 24. The only Middletown BOE member who voted against it was Tom Giaimo. All seven others, including Tobacco, voted for it.

"We are not going to allow staff to encourage or discuss vaccines with our students," said 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."

Mason, president of the Middletown teachers union, told Patch last week the unionized teachers he represents have no problem following the Middletown BOE's "no-COVID-vaccine-talk" policy.

The Middletown school board said this only applies to coronavirus vaccines, and that it would not prohibit a teacher from talking about general vaccine development.

Local lawmakers weigh in on national teacher training

A Republican state assemblyman who represents the Middletown area in Trenton, Gerry Scharfenberger said this was the first he's heard of the teacher training or the use of the Reach app.

But he said he disagreed with it.

"Vaccines are such a volatile topic," he said. "There are so many opinions out there. I think public education has been delving into areas it really shouldn't be entering into."

"I'm glad the vaccine is out there for those who want it, but I wouldn't feel comfortable advising people to get it or not. That info. should come from medical experts, not teachers who may or may not be that familiar with specifics," said Scharfenberger. "When you are advising people to take medical treatment, you really need to be an expert in that field, not someone who was given some talking points from a lobbying group."

The area's state Senator Declan O'Scanlon, also a Republican, said: "Encouraging people to have open discussions about the vaccine is good. The 'tracking' of the conversations is weird."

Democrat state Sen. Vin Gopal, who represents an area just south of Middletown, Tinton Falls and Red Bank, declined to comment, saying this was the first he heard of the training and he wanted to know more before giving an opinion.

Patch asked NEA spokeswoman Maiers if the union has gotten any pushback from parents who may not want the coronavirus vaccine discussed with their child.

"NEA members want nothing more than to return safely to in-person learning," she said. "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."

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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