New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Teacher without vaccine or testing says he was put on leave
WALLINGFORD — Kahseim Outlaw has taught physical education and health at Lyman Hall High School since 2006, but he said he was sent home Monday because he has refused to get a COVID-19 vaccination or to be tested.
Outlaw, 40, said he follows a holistic, vegan lifestyle involving natural foods, herbs, and yoga, and does not subscribe to conventional medicine. “I don’t even take aspirin,” he said.
When he arrived at school Monday, he said Principal Joseph Corso called him down to his office and put him on a call with Francis Thompson, assistant superintendent for personnel, “who let me know that per the executive order, they had to send me home.” Outlaw said he is on unpaid administrative leave.
Gov. Ned Lamont issued an executive order Sept. 10 mandating all state employees and school and childcare staff must have received at least one vaccine dose by Monday or be tested weekly.
Wallingford Superintendent of Schools Danielle Bellizzi did not comment on Outlaw.
But she issued a statement, which said, “While I cannot comment on the specifics of any personnel matter, I did want to share that Wallingford Public Schools is adhering to the guidelines set forth in Executive Order 13G. … This order sets forth the form and manner in which the state, state hospitals, school boards, and child care facilities must maintain the individual’s documentation of vaccination or exemptions and must verify compliance with the testing requirements for unvaccinated individuals.”
Bellizzi added that the executive order “states that non-compliant employees ‘shall not be allowed on the premises’ of the school district. It further states that any school district ‘shall be in violation of this order when it permits a covered worker who has not complied with this order to be in a public or private pre-K through grade 12 school or a child care facility, to make regular or frequent visits to any such school or child care facility, or to have regular or frequent contact with children in child care, students, or staff.’”
It was not clear Monday how many teachers in Connecticut are on leave due to the requirements of Lamont’s executive order.
Max Reiss, Lamont’s spokesman, said in an email, “Gov. Lamont has been focused on taking all necessary measures to ensure the school year continue uninterrupted, as we do not want to see a repeat of lost time in the classroom. The more people who are vaccinated, the safer all students, staff, and faculty are inside the school building. The vaccine requirement for educators is especially important for those who work with children under the age of
12, who are not yet eligible to receive one of the vaccines.” He added that employment issues are between the school and the employee.
Outlaw said that, because his lifestyle does not allow for injections, he requested a religious exemption from the vaccine and said he was granted temporary approval. But his request for an exemption from testing was not, he said.
“The mandate on the school’s end was we had to be tested by yesterday at 5 p.m.,” Outlaw said. He said he views testing “as an unnecessary medical procedure as well.” He said he asked to be screened rather than tested, being asked questions such as whether he had symptoms or had been near someone who was positive for COVID.
“If I was worried about my health, I would do what I need to do. If it was testing on my own volition that would be one thing. It just seems a bit unreasonable,” Outlaw said.
“My conscience, my intuition, my soul tells me it is not right for me,” he said. “I’m very spiritual. I don’t belong to any particular sect of religion. I am a vegan for over eight years.”
Outlaw also practices yoga, which includes the principle of ahimsa, or “do no harm to your own body, do no harm to anyone else,” he said. Taking the vaccine, he said, means “there’s a substance that we’re going to inject into the bloodstream that for me doesn’t make me any healthier than I am now.”
He said he believes getting vaccinated wouldn’t necessarily protect his students either. “There have been plenty of individuals in my building who were vaccinated and tested positive,” he said. At one point, Outlaw said, he “was quarantined from my building because I was in close contact with someone who was positive.”
Outlaw said he has a master’s degree in integrative health and healing and was Lyman Hall’s 2020 teacher of the year. Now his job is in jeopardy. “In the near future we’ll have a meeting with human resources,” he said. “I’m willing to sacrifice the things I’ve had the privilege of having in my life. … I’m willing to stand by my own volition rather than acquiesce to certain demands to keep those privileges.”
Outlaw said while he may lose his job, “I am not resigning; I am not quitting; I am not walking away from my profession. We don’t know what the consequence is going to be.” Outlaw, his wife and 7-year-old child live in Middletown.
He said he’s received support from students, staff and parents “who are uncertain about doing certain things, but they are doing it for comfort and convenience.”
Outlaw said he is not refusing the vaccination because it is a government mandate. “It has way less to do with that,” he said. “I really don’t think about it in that sense.”
As a teacher, “the health curriculum does not call for holistic practices, so I don’t teach that as part of the curriculum,” Outlaw said. However, when asked, “I do make myself available for those that are looking for a bit more than what was offered to them conventionally.”