there are plenty of “choices” that it is simply not moral to force people to make
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But some would say spending <70K a year on your kid’s education is not a moral choice either (I struggle with it myself). I don’t think some forms of religious education are “moral”. Isn’t that the whole concept of private schools? You don’t think they are being run well, you don’t spend your money there.
But you have little to no choice when the rules are changed mid-stride when you are already part of the plan. It is one thing to apply outright while knowing your child is forced to take the vaccine. It is a different story when the contract you have entered into is altered once entered into the contract period.
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Schools don’t change their religious focus. You know prior to applying if you can deal with the religion they are teaching and if not, you move on.
Apples and oranges.
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From what I’ve read and personally seen, I think making adolescents take the COVID boosters is unscientific and immoral. However, whether Andover should be able to do so depends
on if the school told the applicants and then matriculants ahead of time.
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Two things…
It was not understood at outset of year that this booster would be mandated (it didn’t exist); and another question is whether the staff of PA is being required to be boosting and if they refuse, what is the ramification for them?
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You know, I have one additional thought I’ll share which is PA’s decision really surprised me. This is supposedly an elite institution producing and shaping great thinkers, yet they are acting on “feelings” versus hard evidence. It “feels” safer to have adolescents boosted even if the data shows that it does not prevent getting or transmitting the virus - in other words, its benefits to the community are minimal. I am a simple person, but this makes no sense to me and perpetuates the same illogical, feelings based ways of approaching important decisions that is leading to the downfall of our country- the inability think critically and to be guided by facts.
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Actually, “bslove,” it is more nefarious even than you present. Not only do the boosters fail to prevent getting or transmitting the virus, among adolescents (especially males, apparently) they can be accompanied with meaningful side effects, such as inflammation of the cardiac system and elsewhere in the body. (I myself know a perfectly healthy young man who got boosted and then almost immediately suffered so much inflammation in the elbow in the recipient arm that he almost needed surgery.) And these are just immediate side effects; nobody knows if there will be long-term ones.
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That is a scary story for sure.
I am just not sure where the outrage is about forcing this? Is everyone just so worn down and complacent? I don’t get it and for the record I am not anti-vaccines or even necessarily anti-boosters. I am just troubled by the “mandate” especially since no other peer schools are enacting this policy as far as I can tell…
Thank you for engaging the issue.
I have no dog in this fight but know that many schools require flu vaccines with similar levels of efficicacy. Don’t most also have a way of opting out?
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Opting out requires a decision from the organizers that are mandating this “option” in the first place. English class was never my forte but I believe we call that an oxymoron 
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Are we sure PA has required 2nd booster? It’s hard to believe.
We are sure. Was able to see the email that said it’s required for their students to return to campus…
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Direct from Andover
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PEA has the same policy since September. However I don’t think it’s enforced. The 2nd booster was optional when they gave it to students on campus in September. No word yet on returning to campus without 2nd booster.
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It wouldn’t appear then to be the same policy as this one states they must have it on record in order to return or get it during the clinic they hold at the start of the year. Andover addresses the fact that they gave students leeway the first half of the year but now that gratitude has expired. There is no ultimatum by PEA like this, is there?
What is ironic when they say they are following recommendations but they don’t bother making visitors wear masks on campus per their policies (and they certainly don’t check visitor vaccine cards when they say visitors should be fully vaccinated). Even the state of Mass recommends wearing masks indoors. Pick and choose what you want to follow?
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No, not yet.
I’d rather have a mandatory face masking than vaccination. Face masks reduce other respiratory illnesses as well and don’t have potential long term health problems.
What does Andover do when students test positive? Do they go to class just masked or do they have to miss classes until they test negative? Do they continue to live in their dorms? What happens with their roommates? Are they allowed to stay on campus or must they leave and recover elsewhere? Or do kids with COVID stay in an infirmary supervised by the nurses or medical staff?
If the school is quarantining positive cases, for how many days? Does it just depend on the severity of the symptoms so kids with mild cases can remain on campus? It seems to me that the more disruptive a school’s policies are for infected kids and their dorm mates, the more the school should be doing everything in their power to prevent kids from testing positive. I know that most adolescents have mild cases, but I would imagine the last thing a school wants is to have to care for a sick distant boarder or find a place to isolate them. If it is a day student or a boarder who lives an hour or two drive away, it is probably easier on everyone to send the kid home until they are no longer contagious.
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I don’t know about Andover specifically but we were told from other schools that the students who are positive stay in their infirmary which is a mini-hospital basically. If the students are well enough, work can be brought to them to do while they are quarantined there. Same as any other illness that warrants a student not being able to attend classes. Boarding schools should be well prepared with a medical facility to treat a variety of issues, not just a splinter. If they are not, why would anyone want to send their kid there? Many of these schools have a better medical center than some colleges because these kids are not capable of getting off campus for medical care themselves.
Interesting. My D24’s school is similar to what you describe. My son’s junior boarding school has a policy that covid+ kids must leave campus within 12 hours and they cannot return for ten days. I would be frustrated if he caught covid from a roommate and I had to drive 4 hours to get him and then again ten days later to bring him back to school. So I would want the school to do everything in their power to make sure there was no chance that my child caught covid from another student or teacher. I would have no problem whatsoever with his school mandating a booster --though it does not require them.
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