Protests ensue at NC charter school over teacher vaccine mandate
A group of parents whose children attend a public charter school in Matthews has set up a GoFundMe page to help teachers and staff fight a mandate that employees get a COVID-19 vaccine.
Socrates Academy was the first school in the Charlotte area to require all employees be vaccinated against COVID-19 by Thanksgiving or lose their jobs. Some teachers are pushing back though nearly 9 of every 10 employees at Socrates were already vaccinated by the time the mandate was introduced.
Janice Soucey, the development and communications facilitator for the school, told the Observer in September that Socrates would accept medical or religious exemptions to the vaccine, if submitted at least 30 days prior to Nov. 25.
Personnel who didn’t intend to comply with the new rule had to give notice by last Friday.
But parents and residents — some who don’t currently have children at the school — protested in front of Socrates both last Friday and Monday saying the school isn’t honoring exemptions. The protest activity prompted the school to keep students home both days for remote learning. The GoFundMe page, created last week, claims Socrates’ board of directors voted to not accept any “of the religious and medical exemptions submitted.”
An attorney for Socrates told the Observer on Monday that claims the school isn’t honoring exemptions is “100% not true.”
Lisa Gordon Stella, of the Law Office of Lisa Gordon Stella, said the school permitted and reviewed any requests for an exemption under the Americans with Disability Act and Title VII, which prohibits employers from discriminating in the workplace when it comes to characteristics such as race, gender and religion.
“Socrates received just a few exemption requests and each employee was provided an individual determination consistent with the interactive process,” Gordon Stella said. “That said, the law recognizes a distinction between religious and political beliefs and it is only sincerely held religious beliefs that are protected by Title VII.”
To date, 89% of Socrates Academy’s faculty and staff are fully vaccinated. The school serves students in grades K-9 and enrolls upward of 830 students. According to its COVID-19 dashboard that is updated weekly, there is one active COVID-19 case among staff members, and no students have COVID-19. Since school began, there have been 22 total cases among students and staff.
According to the dashboard, 19% of students have opted in for weekly COVID-19 testing. Socrates Academy does have a mask policy requiring all students and employees to wear a mask when indoors.
“Socrates is committed to providing a safe and healthy learning environment for its students and staff,” Gordon Stella said. “To that end and to reduce avoidable disruption to our student’s education, the school instituted a vaccine requirement as a condition of employment.”
‘Unsafe and disruptive’
Recent protests over the employee vaccination mandate forced school officials to move instruction to remote learning Friday and Monday. The protests included about 40 people last Friday and upward of 20 on Monday.
Members of Moms for Liberty, an organization dedicated to “educating and empowering parents to defend their parental rights at all levels of government,” were present at the protests, according to parents and Britney Bouldin, the chairman of Moms for Liberty-Union County. Moms for Liberty has generally condemned mask mandates as a threat to freedom and want schools to leave it up to the parents to make the decision for their children.
Parent Jessica Burke said she’s in favor of the vaccine mandate for staff. She’s also in favor of peaceful protests and “standing up for your beliefs.” But Burke, and other parents the Observer talked to, weren’t happy that the protests included people who don’t have children at the school and the protests were advertised on public social media groups.
“It’s unsafe and disruptive to invite people you don’t know to the school during school hours while our children are there,” Burke said. “So many parents reached out to our principal with concerns that the school decided they had to go remote and agreed it could be unsafe. If they had not advertised the protest to people outside of Socrates, the school more than likely would have stayed open.
By midday Monday, multiple parents told the Observer that Socrates had fired teachers, which the school refuted.
“To date, no employees have been terminated for not complying with the vaccination requirement,” Gordon Stella said.
Parent Vicki Vila said: “I’ve been a Socrates parent for 10 years, and I think it’s the most amazing school in the area. The board is doing what they think is best for the long term health and safety of our entire community. However, that doesn’t mean I’m not sad about the loss or potential loss of any of our amazing teachers, because they are the heart and soul of our school along with the families.”
According to the GoFundMe page, money being raised is for the “cost of legal fees and materials associated with fighting current and future Covid-19 vaccination mandates for Socrates Academy.” Thus far, the campaign has raised $160.
This story was originally published October 26, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
