Vaccination Deadline For NJ Teachers, State Workers Is Today

NEW JERSEY — Monday was the deadline for all New Jersey school teachers and state workers to either show proof of COVID-19 vaccination or consent to being tested up to twice weekly for the virus.

These are the terms of Executive Order 253, issued by Gov. Phil Murphy in August. States like California, Connecticut and Oregon similarly have teacher vaccine mandates. On the other hand, states like Texas, Tennessee and Florida all made it illegal to require teachers get the shot.

However, weekly testing may not be implemented immediately as many New Jersey school districts are experiencing "vendor-related delays" in the testing roll-out, Murphy announced in his press conference Monday.

Up to as many as 386 school districts across the state have been told they have some flexibility.

"School districts facing vendor-related delays that render them unable to meet the Oct. 18 implementation date have been granted limited and targeted flexibility related to Executive Order 253," said Alyana Alfaro, a spokeswoman for the governor. "Districts facing delays are required to have determined the vaccination status of all covered workers and must be ready to begin testing as soon as the vendor is able in order to be considered compliant with EO 253."

The vaccine mandate or twice-weekly-testing-requirement applies to all New Jersey schoolteachers, in all public, private and parochial schools. The vaccine mandate also applies to all state employees, or they too must be tested up to twice weekly. Gov. Murphy defined state employees broadly, and it includes anyone who works at a state agency, state law enforcement office and publicly funded colleges, such as Rutgers University.

Employees who are unvaccinated and do not adhere to testing will be disciplined according to agreements between their union and school district, Murphy administration Chief Counsel Parimal Garg said during the press conference.

Also starting Monday, all state employees were required to return full time, five days a week to state offices. Before this, they only had to come back two days a week.

There was a rally planned for outside the State House in Trenton at 11 a.m. Monday, News 12 New Jersey reported. Over 100 individuals protested the mandate at the capital, according to NJ.com.

The publication also reports that several employees filed a lawsuit in federal court Monday challenging the vaccination mandate, asserting that it is in violation of “the liberty and privacy rights protected by the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.”

The state teachers' union, the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) is not collecting data on how many teachers so far have been vaccinated, said union spokesman Steve Baker. That data is being collected by New Jersey school districts themselves and has not been publicly released yet by the NJ Department of Education.

However, Baker said the union is not hearing of particularly large numbers of teachers quitting due to the vaccine mandate.

He also said the teachers' union supports the vaccine requirement.

"In general, retirement numbers over the last 19 months are in line with what we have seen over the last several years," said Baker. "I have not heard of any educators quitting specifically because of the vaccination or testing requirement of Executive Order 253. To the extent that there is a shortage, it appears to be tied more to the issue of fewer people coming into the profession than to a mass exodus of current educators."

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