REPORT: Unions, left-wing group training N.J. teachers to report student, parent COVID-19 convos

A Friday report by Fox News was shocking but perhaps not surprising, Save Jerseyans: the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) in conjunction with a left-wing organization called “Made to Save” are reportedly training New Jersey teachers to report covid-related private conversations with students and parents to an app called Reach.

The app was originally designed for none other than Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

“We built Reach for the Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez campaign as a tool for ourselves after we realized traditional door-to-door canvassing methods were limiting who we were talking to and when we were able to effectively collect data in the field,” the app’s website explains. “Reach allowed us to canvass in the streets, subway stops, and community events in so many new ways that it revolutionized the way we connected with voters. This is a part of how we won, and we knew that other progressive people-powered campaigns could use it to win too.”

Republican State Senator Holly Schepisi of Bergen County is voicing her outrage.

“New Jerseyans might be surprised to hear that teachers are being told to engage students and parents in private conversations about their health and COVID-19 vaccination status and to log what they learn in a campaign-style tracking app run by a progressive advocacy group,” said Schepisi (R-39) whose office says it does not appear parents were permitted to opt out of the data entries or even asked to consent in the first place. “Unbelievably, that’s exactly what’s happening, as I’ve been told by concerned teachers. It’s a gross invasion of privacy that Governor Murphy and the New Jersey Department of Education should prohibit immediately.”

“It’s not surprising that teachers are telling us they’re afraid of violating the trust of parents, as their unions are instructing them to do,” added Schepisi. “They understand the responsibility they have to be discrete with our private lives, which they often hear our kids discuss in embarrassing detail in their classrooms. It’s imperative that the Murphy administration act now to protect the integrity of teachers who are being put in a terribly compromising position by their unions. Further, parents deserve to know exactly what information was logged about them.”

Schepisi wants the New Jersey Department of Education to investigate.

“It certainly looks like taxpayer-funded teachers are being tasked with collecting sensitive data that could be used by Democratic political campaigns to target voters in the future,” Schepisi continued. “As they say, where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Teachers should be careful they’re not the ones who get burned by union leadership who are playing politics at their expense.”

Matt Rooney
About Matt Rooney 8403 Articles
MATT ROONEY is SaveJersey.com's founder and editor-in-chief, a practicing New Jersey attorney, and the host of 'The Matt Rooney Show' on 1210 WPHT every Sunday evening from 7-10PM EST.