JACKSON – A small group of residents brought their concerns about COVID-19 pandemic related issues to the Board of Education’s last meeting of the year.
Parents opposing masking in schools and fearing Governor Phil Murphy will eventually institute a vaccination mandate for students, recently positioned 50 pairs of shoes featuring notes on them to the Board, and various signs on the property of the school district’s administrative building. It was called Operation: Shoe Drop.
A few days later they came out to the BOE meeting to voice their concerns. They questioned the school district’s 14-day quarantine policy. They also questioned what they said were inconsistencies in pandemic restrictions, such as mask breaks, and mask wearing during indoor physical education classes.
The Gallagher family spoke bluntly about their views. Jennifer Gallagher was involved in Operation: Shoe Drop and created a Facebook page called Jackson Fresh Faced Schools. She and her husband Eli and their children came to the meeting. Their young daughter Ava also spoke during the session.
An overwhelming majority of medical professionals have said that wearing masks, getting vaccinated, and maintaining social distancing is the best way to slow the spread of the virus.
The Ocean County Health Department reported 350 known new cases in Jackson from December 1 through December 14, an average of 25 new positive tests a day. Positive cases tend to surge after holidays like Thanksgiving. The township has seen 8,790 known cases since the beginning of the pandemic last year, the fourth highest in Ocean County.
Mask Wearing
“Nowhere in the executive order does it say anything that you can’t have a religious exemption. Ms. Pormilli specifically told me that she was told by someone at the state that I’m not allowed to have a religious exemption. This executive order does not trump this. For a week straight my daughter Ava was denied a religious exemption for a mask and I don’t appreciate that because I follow all the rules,” Eli Gallagher said. “You forced me to get a medical exemption for her and there is nothing wrong with her. I suggest you change your policy because it is going to get the taxpayers in hot water.”
Jennifer Gallagher added that in a press briefing by the governor, he was asked what would happen if the lawsuit against the executive order mandating masks was not withheld in court, and the mandate be lifted, Murphy replied that students would have to go back to all virtual learning.
“None of you are giving us any other option but to pull our kids out. You are not listening to what we want for them. All of our efforts and our patience are being stretched thin. The executive orders are not a law and can not be turned into law without legislative backing and approval. An executive order from a governor is a persuasive suggestion,” Jennifer Gallagher said.
“My feeling is that a lot of boot licking is going on around here,” she added in reference to politics and health matters merging together. “I don’t feel you are being as honest with us as you claim to be. What is going to happen to your precious funding (based on pupil population) when we pull our kids out? What we need is someone with a backbone. A person not chasing a check. Someone not afraid to go against the grain and who will stand up for our best interests.”
“It is uncomfortable to do this,” Ava Gallagher told the members of the Board in reference to wearing a mask in school.
Resident Nicole Grzyb, who is an educator in another school district criticized the Board and administration saying, “what is happening during this school year has been taken way too far and I believe all of you know something is not right. I want you to take a look at your rules, procedures and consequences that were put in place by this district created by you. You have separate rules and consequences for vaccinated and unvaccinated students and have created segregation and discrimination.”
Extension Of Power
The governor confirmed that he was in talks with Democrat leaders in the legislature to extend his pandemic powers beyond January 11. When he allowed the public health emergency to expire in June there was a provision that would make any of the prior executive orders expire on January 11.
Governor Murphy, however, has the option to seek a 90-day extension. Mask mandates for students and staff inside schools is one of the executive orders that expires on January 11.
A legal challenge to that mask mandate is continuing in the courts. A judge recently refused to issue a stay blocking the mask mandate while the litigation is heard in court. The attorney representing parents in that matter has filed an appeal.
Governor Murphy has stated he was not planning to follow what has been ordered in New York City, New York state or Philadelphia with stronger pandemic restrictions. In New York City mask mandates were imposed for all indoor locations.
In New York, any child above the age of 5 must provide proof of vaccination to eat indoors in a restaurant or just about any indoor activities in the city. Health officials in Philadelphia announced vaccination status is required for restaurants, bars and most other indoor activities.
Jackson parents don’t want to see those kinds of mandates in New Jersey and they voiced their opposition to the mask mandates currently in place. Superintendent Nicole Pormilli once again informed residents that while she understands their frustration, by law, the school district must comply with the guidelines of the state through the governor’s executive orders.
Quarantine Plan Questioned
Several parents pointed to the governor’s home town of Middletown whose school district is in defiance of state guidance concerning students quarantining after they are exposed to someone infected by the covid virus.
All counties in the state have a high rate of transmission and any unvaccinated student found to be exposed to a COVID-infected person must quarantine for 14 days and cannot return even if they test negative for having the virus, until a two-week quarantine period ends. Middletown made that quarantine period voluntary.
No action has been taken toward the Middletown School District at the current time but parents like Megan Gardella and Grzyb would like to see Jackson’s Board take similar action regarding their quarantine plan.
Grzyb said, “there is no executive order relating to quarantining. You are quarantining healthy people because they are not vaccinated. They shouldn’t be punished for it and they shouldn’t be missing out on a free public education. Middletown just voted on it and decided it should be voluntary and up to the parents which is what it should be anyway. As parents it should be our decision.”
“Since September of 2020 we’ve been keeping healthy kids home from school because of the recommendations of the Ocean County Health Department and others about decisions about quarantining. Some kids have been quarantined more than one time which means it can be upward to 24 days out of the classroom. Enrollment is down in Jackson. We have the ability to move our kids around so they are six feet apart,” Gardella said.
“The Ocean County Health Department avoids this discussion altogether and it is evident that in the Jackson School District we are taking the Ocean County Health Department’s side in this policy. Information is all over the place from one expert to the next. The fact remains that healthy kids are being quarantined for 14 days,” Gardella added.
Gardella said, “at this rate you guys should be considering a new calendar of 236 days to make up for all the time the kids are out of the classroom. It is time for Jackson to become one of the leaders in COVID education with less quarantine time and not consider close contact during lunch and less interrupted learning. I hope you can follow the lead of another district.”
Superintendent Responds
Pormilli responded to parents’ comments at the close of the session. She said she respected their views but took offense to the statement made that she was “chasing a check.”
“I’m not a bad person. I have been involved in education for 30 years.” She promised that she would address any mask wearing inside a gym which was not acceptable. She will also review the uniformity of mask breaks and agreed that water breaks and mask breaks were two separate situations. She said she did feel “14 days of quarantining is excessive.”
Board Attorney Marc Zitomer warned parents several times not to interrupt Pormilli and Board members who were speaking, adding that disruption could lead to security personnel removing them.
The Gallagher family did speak with two security officers but they left on their own in the last few minutes of the session.
New Jersey is seeing a surge in COVID infections and increases in hospitalizations. The vast majority of these cases are due to the Delta variant and not the Omicron variant. Public health officials are expecting a rise in hospitalizations in 2022. More than 1,600 people were reported to be hospitalized in the state as of December 14.
