Miami school walks back quarantine for vaccinated students after state threatens funds
Centner Academy, the private school in Miami that has garnered attention over its controversial stance on COVID-19, is walking back its decision to require students who get vaccinated against the disease to quarantine for 30 days.
The private school’s decision to no longer implement the vaccine quarantine policy at its three campuses in the Miami Design District and Wynwood comes just days after the Florida Department of Education threatened to cut its funding if its attendance policy was found to be against the law. The policy rollback was first reported by Local10.
“Our decision not to enact the 30-day at-home quarantine was an easy one as no parents expressed interest in getting the COVID vaccine,” said David Centner, who founded the school with his wife Leila Centner, in an emailed statement to the Miami Herald Monday.
Centner Academy Chief Operating Officer Bianca Erickson, in a response letter dated Oct. 22, told Florida Department of Education Senior Chancellor Jacob Oliva that the school would not be “requesting any student to quarantine at home due to vaccination status.” The Miami Herald has obtained a copy of the letter.
Even though the school decided to scrap its quarantine plans, Erickson still defended the school’s “stay-home” policy, claiming it would have been in compliance because of remote learning.
“Please note, however, that the plan as announced was not implemented prior to receipt of your letter and we will not pursue any such measures,” Erickson said.
Centner Academy Response Dtd 10.22.2021 by Michelle Marchante on Scribd
Oliva, from Florida’s education department, in his letter to Centner Academy administrators last week announcing the state’s investigation into the school said it might have “attendance policies which require parents of recently vaccinated students to quarantine their children for an unreasonable, unnecessary and unduly burdensome amount of time before returning for in-person instruction.”
This isn’t the first time that the school’s stance on COVID-19 has caused controversy
In April, the pre-k to eighth grade school, which caters to a student body of nearly 300, made national headlines when it announced that teachers and staff who chose to get vaccinated for COVID-19 could not interact with students and would risk losing their job.
David Centner last week told the Miami Herald in an email that the vaccine quarantine policy was a “prudent precautionary measure” after “several parents” on the school’s Parent Advisory Board raised concerns over how vaccinated kids could impact other students. Parents were notified about the policy in a letter that contained false information about vaccines.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has an entire web page dedicated to debunking common COVID-19 vaccine myths, including vaccine shedding, which is when a vaccine component is released or discharged from the vaccinated person’s body. That can only occur — and rarely — when a vaccine uses a weakened version of the virus, which none of the approved COVID vaccines do.
This means people who get the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson cannot “shed” the virus. Centner said Monday that they have “the full support of families from our school” and have been “overwhelmed with outreach and requests from parents across the country who want to protect their children.”
“Sadly, the media is not sharing any of the known side effects that have been clearly documented in the VAERS U.S. Government database,” he said.
Like with other vaccines, people who get the COVID-19 vaccine will sometimes experience side effects such as fever, chills and pain in the arm around the shot area.
This is normal and likely a sign that your body is building protection.
The CDC says that the side effects people might experience are generally mild and go away in a few days. While some people may experience a more serious side effect, the health agency says this is rare.
“Serious side effects that could cause a long-term health problem are extremely unlikely following any vaccination, including COVID-19 vaccination,” the CDC says.
