Montclair should lead, require vaccine for teachers (Letter)
An article in the Aug. 19 issue of Montclair Local (and published Aug. 17 at MontclairLocal.news) asked the question many parents had: What authority does the Montclair Township Board of Education have to mandate vaccinations for staff and teachers vs. what requirements need to come from the governor?
While district officials hedged that they had no such authority on the recent town hall phone call (and didn’t even commit to mandatory coronavirus testing, leaving parents of unvaccinated kids 100% in the dark as to their kids' risk level), your reporting made clear that employers can indeed likely mandate vaccines.
Now it is incumbent on the board to follow through and require vaccines for staff and teachers, with the exception of health or approved exemptions. Such vaccine requirements are popping up all over the country, and Montclair and New Jersey should be a leader in this effort.
Nicole Wallace
Montclair
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