Where do teachers fit in vaccine education?
Educator accused of spreading inoculation misinformation will defend action at Oct. 28 hearing
“Teachers are expected to direct students to speak to their parents, guardians and family physicians if they have any questions regarding vaccinations.”
CAITLIN CLARK
SPOKESPERSON FOR ONTARIO MINISTER OF EDUCATION STEPHEN LECCE
In May 2019, months before the world ever heard of COVID, Grand Erie District School Board science teacher Timothy Cyril Sullivan told students, that vaccines have a 100 per cent failure rate, the Ontario College of Teachers alleges.
Despite being warned not to discuss the topic in the classroom, Sullivan is also accused of telling the teens under his care that vaccines cause autism (they do not), and providing them with misleading reading material on the topic.
Sullivan, who did not respond to requests for comment for this story, has expressed these views before. In 2017 he was found guilty of professional misconduct by the college, for “disrespectful and disruptive” behaviour at a school vaccine clinic that included leaving his classroom to intimidate students and telling one they could die if they got a shot.
The new allegations have not been substantiated by the college. He will have a chance to defend himself against them, at a hearing Oct. 28. If found guilty of professional misconduct, a discipline committee could revoke his teaching certificate, or choose a lesser punishment, such as a suspension or fine.
The claims, which predate the pandemic, do not involve the COVID vaccines.
But his case illustrates what could happen to teachers who spout misinformation about the shots in the classroom. It’s a topic where they will need to be prepared to engage with students, as they head back to school this fall.
“It’s fair to anticipate that this will be an issue in the classroom,” said Maya Goldenberg, an associate professor of philosophy at the University of Guelph, who has written a book on vaccine hesitancy. It’s to be expected that kids will have questions on vaccines, or at least be talking about them at school.
Teachers can play a role in pointing students toward good sources on vaccines, she said. This would be consistent with the media literacy and health information they already provide.
Some parents may object to information on vaccines being presented, just as some have had issues with sex-ed. But these concerns probably won’t “go very far,” she said, adding the Ministry of Education and/or boards should provide guidelines with clear expectations on this subject.
Teachers need to stick to the curriculum across the country, said Noni MacDonald, a professor of pediatrics at Dalhousie University. But they can use COVID and the vaccines as examples in different units, such as science or critical thinking.
There are resources available for this, such as new COVID-19 lessons at kidsboostimmunity.com, a non-profit supported by the Public Health Agency of Canada and the B.C. government. MacDonald is also involved in CANVax, an online database of resources to support immunization, supported by the Public Health Agency of Canada.
“The curriculum isn’t so rigid that thou shalt say exactly whatever word it is,” MacDonald said. But teachers are supposed to be providing students with knowledge that is “evidence based,” and not “that the earth is flat, that kind of stuff.”
Caitlin Clark, a spokesperson for Ontario Minister of Education Stephen Lecce, said in an emailed statement that a recent communication to school boards on school COVID vaccination clinics outlined that parents and guardians should be encouraged to discuss the shots with their children.
“Teachers are expected to direct students to speak to their parents, guardians and family physicians if they have any questions regarding vaccinations,” she added.
The Toronto Catholic District School Board has not received any guidance on “updates to the curriculum related to COVID-19, the pandemic, or vaccines,” said a spokesperson in an email. But it will “continue to share information related to the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccine eligibility with staff, students, and families of our students, as directed by the Ministry of Education and Toronto Public Health.”
Toronto District School Board spokesperson Ryan Bird shared a similar sentiment,
“While the TDSB will continue to encourage vaccinations as a system, it’s not something we expect to be shared proactively at the classroom level,” he wrote in an email.
“Having said that, should students raise questions about COVID-19 vaccinations, teachers will provide information from Toronto Public Health, in addition to encouraging students to speak with their family and/or family physician.”
If a teacher does bring vaccine misinformation into the classroom, Goldenberg said, it makes sense that this would become a disciplinary issue with the Ontario College of Teachers.
The college cannot comment on Sullivan’s upcoming hearing, said spokesperson Gabrielle Barkany in an email.
“There is no new misconduct regulation language related to the COVID vaccine,” she added. “Individual allegations related to the dissemination of misinformation to students, whether related to vaccines or any other subject, would be addressed on a case-by-case basis.”
In 2017, the three-member discipline committee panel gave Sullivan a formal reprimand and a one-month suspension.
The panel also ordered him to complete a course on boundaries, professional ethics and self-regulation and banned him from any public health clinics at the school, for two years.
Sullivan, who did his teacher training at a private Jesuit university in Buffalo, N.Y., acknowledged at his discipline hearing that he left his class unattended for a brief period on March 9, 2015, spoke to students at the vaccine clinic and asked the public health nurses there questions. But he denied professional misconduct.
His discipline decision noted that he had received previous cautions from school administrators about his “inappropriate conduct because of a fixation on vaccine issues.”
There were complaints that he was telling his class vaccines cause autism, as well as a tendency to “fixate” other topics such as fluoride in drinking water and the claim that “9/11 was an inside job.”
Sullivan told The Canadian Press in 2017 that he was not “anti-vaccine” but “pro informed consent.”
In the notice for his upcoming hearing with the Ontario College of Teachers, it is also alleged that during the 2018-2019 school, year he told students mental health conditions including depression, anxiety and asthma were not real, and received a 10-day suspension without pay.
It’s also alleged that he verbally abused at least one student.
He is, confirmed Grand Erie District School Board spokesperson Jenny Gladish, still an employee there, a science teacher at Waterford District High School.
“We are not able to disclose personnel information or comment on matters that are before the Ontario College of Teachers,” she added.
Teachers are, like everyone else, vulnerable to misinformation, said Goldenberg, the vaccine hesitancy expert.
And they need to know that there are “limits” on what they can share.
“We know that teachers have a lot of freedom in the classroom,” she said, “but they do not have absolute freedom to spread misinformation.”