Colleen Wright, Daniel ChangMon, April 26, 2021, 7:36 PM·6 min read A private school with two campuses in Miami has warned its staff against taking vaccines that prevent COVID-19, saying it will not employ anyone who has been inoculated and spreading misinformation about the potential risks of vaccination. Centner Academy, with campuses in the Design District and Edgewater, informed parents of its policy for teachers and staff by email on Monday. The announcement, first reported by the New York Times, left some parents, teachers and medical experts aghast because it was presented as fact without citing any scientific evidence. Leila Centner, who co-founded the school with husband David Centner, warned that vaccinated persons “may be transmitting something from their bodies” that could harm others, particularly the “reproductive systems, fertility, and normal growth and development in women and children.” Centner acknowledged in the email that the information is “new and yet to be researched.” Still, she asked employees who have not taken a COVID vaccine to wait until the end of the school year. She also recommended that faculty and staff hold off on taking the injection “until there is further research available on whether this experimental drug is impacting unvaccinated individuals.” “It is our policy, to the extent possible, not to employ anyone who has taken the experimental COVID-19 injection until further information is known,” Centner wrote in the email to parents. Centner Academy was incorporated in 2018, state records show. The school has about 300 students and charges $30,000 a year in tuition for middle school, according to information provided on its website, centneracademy.com. An emailed statement to the Herald lists concerns related to the vaccine but does not back up the claims with scientific evidence or peer-reviewed research, only links to unofficial websites that purport to track deaths related to the vaccine. “We know not everyone agrees on this topic, but this is our philosophy at Centner Academy, one in which many of our teachers and parents share,” the statement read. Leila Centner did not reply to direct requests for comment. Centner last week told faculty and staff in a letter that she made the decision to adopt the new policy with a “very heavy heart.” She listed reasons rooted in misinformation about why the vaccine is dangerous. She added that she was “compelled to take action.” ‘Health Freedom’ “I believe strongly in Health Freedom and “my body, my choice” and for that reason, did not prevent employees from choosing to take the COVID-19 vaccine prior to April 21, 2021,” she wrote. “However, reports have surfaced recently of non-vaccinated people being negatively impacted by interacting with people who have been vaccinated.” Centner asked staff who had already taken the vaccine to report that to the school and maintain physical distance from students. She also required all employees to disclose the information by completing a confidential form. Spreading misinformation about COVID vaccines without citing scientific evidence or even quoting a medical expert can diminish much of the messaging behind the measures that public health officials have taken to try and control the spread of the virus, said Dr. Aileen Marty, a physician and infectious disease specialist with Florida International University’s Wertheim College of Medicine. Marty said she read the email to parents and found it “very sad.” Because it was written by the school’s co-founder, Marty said, parents might assume the statements are supported by science when there is no evidence that individuals who receive a COVID vaccine pose a risk of “transmitting something from their bodies” that would harm others. “It gives the illusion that she’s basing it on facts,” Marty said of the letter, “but there’s not one citation, there’s not one physician or scientist whose name is spelled out in there. There’s no references. There’s nothing. There is no scientific evidence provided. Rumor is the only thing that’s there, and if you look at the reality, there’s zero, zero science behind those allegations.” Marty added that unfounded statements such as those circulated in the letter can create a ripple effect of ignorance with the potential to undo much of the work that public health officials are doing to control the spread of the virus. “If they believe it, and they then share this big lie, it has a horrific impact on our entire community,” she said.
Miami private school Centner Academy won’t employ vaccinated teachers, staff
Colleen Wright, Daniel Chang Mon, April 26, 2021, 7:36 PM·6 min read
A private school with two campuses in Miami has warned its staff against taking vaccines that prevent COVID-19, saying it will not employ anyone who has been inoculated and spreading misinformation about the potential risks of vaccination. Centner Academy, with campuses in the Design District and Edgewater, informed parents of its policy for teachers and staff by email on Monday. The announcement, first reported by the New York Times, left some parents, teachers and medical experts aghast because it was presented as fact without citing any scientific evidence. Leila Centner, who co-founded the school with husband David Centner, warned that vaccinated persons “may be transmitting something from their bodies” that could harm others, particularly the “reproductive systems, fertility, and normal growth and development in women and children.”
Centner acknowledged in the email that the information is “new and yet to be researched.” Still, she asked employees who have not taken a COVID vaccine to wait until the end of the school year. She also recommended that faculty and staff hold off on taking the injection “until there is further research available on whether this experimental drug is impacting unvaccinated individuals.” “It is our policy, to the extent possible, not to employ anyone who has taken the experimental COVID-19 injection until further information is known,” Centner wrote in the email to parents.
Centner Academy was incorporated in 2018, state records show. The school has about 300 students and charges $30,000 a year in tuition for middle school, according to information provided on its website, centneracademy.com. An emailed statement to the Herald lists concerns related to the vaccine but does not back up the claims with scientific evidence or peer-reviewed research, only links to unofficial websites that purport to track deaths related to the vaccine. “We know not everyone agrees on this topic, but this is our philosophy at Centner Academy, one in which many of our teachers and parents share,” the statement read. Leila Centner did not reply to direct requests for comment.
Centner last week told faculty and staff in a letter that she made the decision to adopt the new policy with a “very heavy heart.” She listed reasons rooted in misinformation about why the vaccine is dangerous. She added that she was “compelled to take action.”
‘Health Freedom’ “I believe strongly in Health Freedom and “my body, my choice” and for that reason, did not prevent employees from choosing to take the COVID-19 vaccine prior to April 21, 2021,” she wrote. “However, reports have surfaced recently of non-vaccinated people being negatively impacted by interacting with people who have been vaccinated.” Centner asked staff who had already taken the vaccine to report that to the school and maintain physical distance from students. She also required all employees to disclose the information by completing a confidential form. Spreading misinformation about COVID vaccines without citing scientific evidence or even quoting a medical expert can diminish much of the messaging behind the measures that public health officials have taken to try and control the spread of the virus, said Dr. Aileen Marty, a physician and infectious disease specialist with Florida International University’s Wertheim College of Medicine.
Marty said she read the email to parents and found it “very sad.” Because it was written by the school’s co-founder, Marty said, parents might assume the statements are supported by science when there is no evidence that individuals who receive a COVID vaccine pose a risk of “transmitting something from their bodies” that would harm others. “It gives the illusion that she’s basing it on facts,” Marty said of the letter, “but there’s not one citation, there’s not one physician or scientist whose name is spelled out in there. There’s no references. There’s nothing. There is no scientific evidence provided. Rumor is the only thing that’s there, and if you look at the reality, there’s zero, zero science behind those allegations.” Marty added that unfounded statements such as those circulated in the letter can create a ripple effect of ignorance with the potential to undo much of the work that public health officials are doing to control the spread of the virus. “If they believe it, and they then share this big lie, it has a horrific impact on our entire community,” she said.