A private school in Florida has banned teachers who have had the COVID-19 vaccine from having contact with students. Centner Academy in the trendy Design District of Miami has defied public health advice to encourage vaccination and has instead announced “with a very heavy heart” that if employees choose to get the shot, they’ll have to stay away from students and could even lose their jobs.
- One of the school’s founders, Leila Centner, is a conspiracy theorist. In a letter sent to employees, Centner, who often shares anti-vaccine posts on Facebook, claimed that “reports have surfaced recently of non-vaccinated people being negatively impacted by interacting with people who have been vaccinated.” Repeating false and completely ludicrous claims, she wrote: “Even among our own population, we have at least three women with menstrual cycles impacted after having spent time with a vaccinated person.”
- Centner gave employees three options, according to the New York Times. As per the letter, employees who have already been vaccinated must inform the school so that they can be kept distanced from the students. If they choose to get the vaccine before the end of the school year, they’ll also need to inform the school “as we cannot allow recently vaccinated people to be near our students until more information is known.” The final option is for teachers to wait until the end of the school year to be vaccinated, but there’s a catch to that option as well.
- Teachers who get the vaccine over the summer are basically out of a job. As per the letter, any teacher who chooses to get the vaccine after the current school year won’t be allowed to return in September or possibly ever. Their return will only be considered when clinical trials are complete, and then only “if a position is still available at that time.” In other words, if you get vaccinated, you’re basically fired.
- Teachers had to fill out a “confidential” form about this. On the form, they had to reveal if they’d had the vaccine, how many doses, and if not, whether they planned to get it. The understanding is that staff must “acknowledge the School will take legal measures needed to protect the students if it is determined that I have not answered these questions accurately.” In other words, they’ll try and sue you if you lie about it.
- Centner had her publicist answer the backlash. The publicist’s statement reiterated the same claims Centner herself did that people who’ve had the vaccine “may be transmitting something from their bodies.” The statement added: “We are not 100 percent sure the Covid injections are safe and there are too many unknown variables for us to feel comfortable at this current time.”
