Teacher at a Texas school have been accused of discrimination for offering extra credit only to students that received a flu shot.
Mother of student at the Lake Dallas High School, Texas claims that her child’s teacher discriminated against students by offering extra credit to students that received a flu shot. Talking about the incident, the mother recalled that her son come home from school and told her that his AP Biology teacher was offering extra credit to all those students who had received a flu shot.
The mother emailed the teacher directly, to confirm the student’s story, asking, “My son is a student in your Pre-AP Biology class. He came home mentioning extra credit opportunities. Can you tell me what the options are please?”
The teacher responded back saying, “I told the class that I would give them extra credit (100 on a ‘minor’ grade) if they get a flu vaccine. Other than that, there’s no extra credit this semester.”
“Thank you for getting back with me regarding the extra credit. We have a health issue at our house that prevents us from getting the flu vaccine. Can you please give an alternative option for [student name] to be able to participate in the extra credit opportunity?” the concerned mother inquired.
“That’s the only extra credit I offer in Pre-AP Biology,” the teacher wrote back.
The student’s mother expressed that she was very disturbed following her email exchange with her son’s teacher. “I honestly sat on it for three days in disbelief. I had to wrap my brain around why it felt so wrong. To me, it was giving my child medical advice and it was putting an impression on my child that her way was the right way and we weren’t allowed to be any different. It’s just wrong.”
“Is the school going to pay the medical bills if my son has a reaction?” she added.
Texas is one of the few states that offers vaccine exemptions to all who don’t wish to get vaccinated due to medical related or other reasons. It is to be noted that the push from the teacher came regardless of the fact that getting a flu shot is not a requirement set by the state of Texas to attend public schools.
Eventually, the assignment was pulled. “This issue was brought to the attention of the campus administrators at the time (mid-September) and resolved within a few days. The option of the flu shot extra credit was removed and will not be used as extra credit in the future,” stated Melaynee Broadstreet, Lake Dallas ISD public relations director.