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'It's Baffling': Parents Confused After Centner Academy Announces They Won't Employ People Who Have Been Vaccinated

MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Leila Centner, co-founder and CEO of Centner Academy, has recently shared unfounded COVID conspiracies on her Instagram page.

Now she's taken it a step further at her own schools by announcing that teachers and staff that want to work there aren't allowed to get a coronavirus vaccine.

"It's baffling. Why would she not want her teachers to get vaccinated," wondered parent Greg Tatar.

He said he just doesn't understand the rationale behind the new policy at his son's private school in Miami which announced Monday that it won't employ people who get the COVID-19 vaccine.

"Maybe they want to wait to see if there is a new variant and a new vaccine? I don't know but it's a bit strange," said parent Sophie Pescher.

In a letter to parents and teachers, the school asked teachers and staff who want to be vaccinated to wait until the end of the school year.

The letter also said that they "cannot allow recently vaccinated people near students."

"It is our policy, to the extent possible, not to employ anyone who has taken the experimental COVID-19 injection until further information is known," according to the email.

In a statement, Centner said the vaccine is experimental and has only been given emergency use approval from the US Food and Drug Administration.

She then pointed to theories that have been debunked by doctors and the Centers for Disease Control.

"Tens of thousands of women all over the world have recently been reporting adverse reproductive issues simply from being in close proximity with those who have received any one of the COVID-19 injections, e.g., irregular menses, bleeding, miscarriages, post-menopausal hemorrhaging, and amenorrhea (complete loss of menstruation).

No one knows exactly what may be causing these irregularities, but it appears that those who have received the injections may be transmitting something from their bodies to those with whom they come in contact. Until more is known, we must err on the side of caution when it comes to the welfare of our students and the school team."

FIU's infectious disease specialist Dr. Aileen Marty said she's concerned by the school's actions.

"Here we have one of the most powerful tools in our arsenal to protect ourselves and prevent this problem and they are discouraging the use of it. It's tragic," she said. "There's nothing infectious in the vaccine whatsoever and the type of immunity they induce in no way affects anything to do with someone's fertility," she said.

The United Teachers of Dade released a statement which said in part that they are horrified by the decision.

"As shamefully seen by the actions of the illegally run and uncertified Centner Academy, these schools not only teach misinformation and peddle propaganda, they punish teachers who try to protect themselves and their families."

The decision has also left parents like Tatar wondering whether to leave his son at the school next year.

"I personally disagree with that one, I got vaccinated six weeks ago and I'm very happy about it. It's a very safe vaccine for all," he said.

The statement from Centner said she made her decision to err on the side of caution.

The school has told teachers if they get the vaccine over the summer, they can't come back to school until clinical trials are over which is not scheduled to happen until 2023.

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