Time is running out to vaccinate teachers and reopen schools, Montclair leaders say – NorthJersey.com

As Montclair schools approach the one-year mark of all-remote instruction, local leaders are stepping up calls to vaccinate teachers and offering scenarios for how that might happen quickly.

“Time is running out,” said at-large Councilor Peter Yacobellis. “If teachers don’t get vaccinated soon you can forget about returning to classrooms before September.” 

Montclair is one of 190 districts in the state that remain all-remote. The teachers union, the Montclair Education Association, has refused to return to classrooms until all members are vaccinated. On Wednesday, an Essex judge denied a request by the district to force teachers back to the classroom. He has asked Superintendent Jonathan Ponds to supply more documentation on building safety and will hear further arguments on March 9. 

The standoff began in earnest on Jan. 25, when a planned return to in-person instruction was boycotted by the union, which said that district had not adequately addressed ventilation problems in the schools.

Many parents have expressed frustration over repeated postponements of a return to the classroom, with petitions, protests and at a board of education meeting that went late into the night.

Mayor Sean Spiller, a high school science teacher who is also vice president of the state teachers union, the New Jersey Education Association, said he and the mayors of 15 other towns, mostly in Essex County, sent a letter to Murphy in late January asking that teachers be first in line for the new Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The fact that it requires only one dose, and is more easily transported and stored because it does not require low temperatures, would enable teachers to return to the classrooms quickly, they said.

“The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines currently in use require two doses about a month apart, which means the earliest fully vaccinated teachers could return to classrooms is early April if vaccination began immediately,” the letter read.

Johnson & Johnson applied for an emergency use authorization for its vaccine in late January with the aim of shipping its first doses by early March.

A spokesperson from the governor’s office referenced transcripts of his press conferences and said the governor would have no further comment.

In his Feb. 8 press conference, Murphy said there is “Nothing new on educators, although as I’ve said, I view them … in the on-deck circle.”

“I appreciate that teachers are ‘next,’ ” Spiller said in an interview Friday. “But what is, and when is, that ‘next’?” 

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In New Jersey, vaccines are being distributed to those in categories 1A and 1B who are first responders, health care workers, residents of long-term care facilities, those 65 and older and those 16-64 with serious health conditions. Smokers are also eligible to be vaccinated, a decision that has sparked a torrent of criticism from the public and educators.

Murphy said in January that it is a “false narrative” to say smokers are being vaccinated over our “heroic, blessed educators,” that smokers are at high-risk from a virus that attacks the respiratory system, and “we have to prioritize limited federally distributed vaccines based on medical fact and not on political want.” 

Vaccine eligibility is determined by individual states. Currently, 18 states, including New York, are vaccinating teachers.

Local leaders have also been pushing back against federal policies that don’t support teacher vaccination. Recently, Reps. Josh Gottheimer and Tom Malinowski wrote a letter to Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, after she suggested that vaccinating teachers isn’t necessary in order to reopen schools. 

“Every parent, including ourselves, wants their child to be able to return to a safe and stable school environment where they can see their friends and receive the best education possible,” the congressmen wrote. “We therefore believe that prioritizing vaccinations for teachers and school staff is critical.”

Yacobellis said vaccinating teachers could be further expedited by prioritizing vaccines for K-5 teachers, whose classrooms would be first to open. 

“The science suggests this group is least likely to spread the virus and the data suggests they’re also suffering most, particularly low-income and communities of color,” he said. “I encourage our state government to immediately move K-5 teachers to the front of the vaccination line.” 

Spiller said Murphy has connected Montclair’s superintendent with a company that is facilitating rapid testing in schools as a way to increase safety and encourage reopening.

But quick vaccination remains the magic bullet that will get teachers and students back in classrooms quickly and safely. 

“Parents, educators, everyone under the sun is pushing our governor and others to make teacher vaccination a priority. I hope he listens,” Spiller said.

Julia Martin covers Montclair for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: jmartin@gannettnj.com

Twitter: @TheWriteJulia