Testa, Simonsen & McClellan Call on Murphy to Prohibit Teachers from Logging Vaccine Conversations in Progressive Campaign App

Senator Michael Testa and Assemblymen Erik Simonsen and Antwan McClellan (all R-1) called on Governor Phil Murphy to prohibit teachers from logging conversations with students and parents about COVID-19 vaccinations in a progressive campaign app operated by a left-wing organization.

“We’re hearing from parents who are outraged by the shocking reports that teachers are being trained to engage students and their families in vaccine conversations and to log what they learn in a tracking app developed for Democrat political campaigns,” said Testa. “We believe this practice is inappropriate, unethical, likely illegal, and must be stopped immediately.”

It has been reported that the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) are partnering with Made to Save, a progressive advocacy organization, to train classroom teachers to have conversations about COVID-19 vaccines with students and parents.

Teachers are then paid with gift cards for logging those conversations in Reach, a campaign tracking app developed for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) that is now used by other Democrats running for office.

“Teachers aren’t medical professionals and they shouldn’t try to sway vaccination decisions when they don’t know every family’s health issues and concerns,” Testa said. “Frankly, it’s none of their business, and they have no right to share someone else’s health information without their knowledge and consent.”

The legislators joined Senator Holly Schepisi (R-39) in urging Governor Murphy and the New Jersey Department of Education to prohibit teachers or other school officials from sharing information about students and other family members in third-party apps without consent.

Further, they called for an investigation into the practice to determine what information has already been collected by teachers through Reach or other campaign-style apps on behalf of external organizations.

“It’s telling that teachers are being instructed to covertly log private health conversations in the Reach app that Democrat campaigns use for voter outreach,” added McClellan. “It certainly looks like teachers are being provided a financial benefit for doing what’s essentially political campaign work in their classrooms on behalf of left-wing groups under the guise of a public health initiative. Our constituents are right, it’s totally outrageous, and it should be banned immediately.”