Brophy Prep's COVID-19 policy aims to keep school open, not to upset a few parents
Opinion: A campaign to impugn Brophy College Preparatory won't work. We stand behind our science-led policy on COVID-19 vaccines and testing.
Since announcing our return-to-school policy, our school, like others across the nation, has become a target of attacks. Despite this, students are thriving – enjoying the in-person learning and camaraderie that is imperative to adolescent development.
To achieve this, we made two commitments about the year ahead: first, safely and responsibly return all our students to in-person learning; and second, dramatically expand extracurricular activities. Implementing bold commitments requires bold policy to be sustainable and operationally feasible for the entire year.
If we were a secular school, our calculus may have stopped there, but as a Catholic, Jesuit institution, we are also compelled by our responsibility as leaders to advance the common good.
To honor these commitments, we launched a policy that encourages vaccination but offers the choice of frequent testing, which we are providing on-site and at no cost to families, with various forms of offsite testing also available.
A disinformation campaign has sprouted
The reasons we favor vaccination are purpose-driven and practical. CDC guidelines state vaccinated students do not have to quarantine if exposed to COVID-19 and masking is currently mandatory indoors at our school. The greater the number of vaccinated students, the less likelihood of missing school and the higher probability of sustaining in-person learning on-campus, together.
Our policy is framed by science, medicine and logic and includes input and monitoring by some of the best medical experts in our state. It is designed to give students the academic and extracurricular experience they need to reach their full potential.
Doctor:Why I wish other schools would copy Brophy's COVID-19 policy
Yet even as case rates rise and institutions call for greater mitigation, a frightening campaign of disinformation attempts to discredit our responsible actions.
The coordinators of this effort, which includes attempts to impugn school administrators and board members, use threatening emails and online trolling, often under the cover of pseudonyms and alt platforms. Sadly, this includes a small number of Brophy parents who have either forgotten, or who never understood, the mission and values of our school.
Their distortions will not eclipse the facts: nearly 80% of our 1,400 students are fully vaccinated or in the process of doing so. Hundreds are enrolled in testing. To date, fewer than 40 families appear committed to noncompliance.
We know parents are tired. But we won't be bullied
This group calls our policy discriminatory, saying it violates civil liberties and parental choice. Not so. Our policy offers families the choice to test or vaccinate. Some claim that testing itself is dangerous, yet no credible evidence exists to support this position.
As for religious considerations, Pope Francis declares vaccination a responsibility to others, calling it “an act of love,” while imploring institutions to help make vaccines more widely accessible.
We know parents are tired of this long COVID-19 siege and frustrated by our inability to provide absolute clarity and consistency. We are too.
Parent:Brophy Prep's vaccine and testing mandate ignores my choices
We acknowledge the confusion surrounding us. We recognize there are parents with legitimate concerns and we are here to participate in respectful dialogue. But we will not be bullied to accept a list of demands that are untethered to real science or rational thought.
As a private school, we have discretion to adopt this policy and parents who have gone to extreme lengths to activate against us are under no duress to attend. Our policy is fair and operationally feasible and exists to achieve our goal of providing students with an enriched, in-person educational experience.
As Men and Women for Others, we believe our policy serves the best interests of our students and the greater good. We stand behind it.
Adria Renke is president of Brophy College Preparatory and Bob Ryan is the school principal. Brophy College Preparatory is a private, Catholic Jesuit school in Phoenix that serves young men in the sixth through 12th grades. On Twitter: @BrophyNews.