One of first in-person NJEA events since March 2020
Held Nov. 12-13, 2021, at the Hilton in East Brunswick, the irony that one of the first conferences NJEA held in person since the start of the pandemic was a conference focused on health and safety was not lost on the presenters and speakers, several of whom noted it in their presentations. The NJEA Health and Safety Conference was one of just two in-person NJEA conferences held since March 2020. The NJEA Convention was the other.
The influence of COVID-19 on the conference protocols was impossible to miss. At registration, attendees were required to either show proof of vaccination or the negative results of a PCR test administered in the last 72 hours. In addition, attendees wore masks during workshops held in rooms with reduced capacities.
Keith Hinton II, chair of the NJEA Worksite Safety and Health Committee, explained why it’s important for local associations to prioritize health and safety.
“We have countless examples of what happens when we stand our ground and demand remediations and restorations,” Hinton said. “We win, not just for our members, but for our students and their families.”
NJEA President Sean M. Spiller commended the attendees for setting time aside to come to the conference. Spiller noted that New Jersey has the best schools in the nation because of the dedication and commitment of members like those who attended the conference.
“If we’re not advocating for the resources, if we’re not advocating to have our voices be part of the decision-making, if we’re not advocating for safe and healthy conditions, if we’re not advocating for all of the things that our students need to be able to learn, we’re not going to have the best schools in the nation,” Spiller said. “And nobody does that better than we do—and that is the other half of the equation as to why we have the Number One schools in the nation.”
Spiller also noted the value of NJEA’s partnerships with the Healthy Schools Now Coalition, Save Our Schools and the New Jersey Work Environment Council in meeting our objectives for safe and healthy learning and working environments.
NJEA Secretary-Treasurer Petal Robertson reflected on health and safety concerns in her own school district and those of other school districts in the past year. Advocating for health and safety, she said, is absolutely the right thing to do.
“When we start talking about schools that are lead free, schools that are mercury free, schools that don’t need textbooks to hold the windows open, we’re not asking for anything extravagant, we’re asking for the bare minimum that we deserve, the bare minimum that our children deserve,” Robertson said.
Robertson pointed out that once the pandemic ends the struggle is not over.
“Our job is not done once this pandemic is done,” Robertson said. “Our job is to undo the inequities that have been allowed to exist for decades that this pandemic has laid bare.”
More than just physical care
Keynote speaker Philip McCormick, a social worker a Columbia High School in South Orange-Maplewood, addressed the topic, “Surviving a Pandemic: It’s More Than Just Physical Self-Care.”
“We are very much still in a physical health emergency, and we’re very much in a mental health emergency,” McCormick said.
McCormick noted statistics from the National Institute of Mental Health, indicating dramatic increases in the number of U.S. residents reporting anxiety, depression, substance abuse and suicide ideation. He reminded attendees that it’s essential that they take care of their mental health.
“Self-care is important,” McCormick said. “It’s natural as educators to want to help other people, but you’re not going to be effective in helping other people if you’re not fully taking care of yourself.”
NJEA Vice President Steve Beatty echoed McCormick’s remarks in an address to the conference the following morning. He outlined the physical conditions that must be present in school buildings to ensure a safe and healthy environment.
“But it’s also about our students’ social and emotional well-being, and it’s about your social and emotional well-being,” Beatty added. “Your presence here underscores your commitment. You understand the critical role we play in the lives of our students and our communities.”
Coming after the overwhelming majority of NJEA members were fully vaccinated, the health and safety conference signaled a return to in-person events. The spread of the omicron variant over the holiday season, however, serves as a reminder that decisions to hold in-person or virtual events will be made on a case-by-case basis in consideration of public health and safety.