'BRANDING OUR KIDS'
Outrage as high school students marked with black Sharpie at prom to show unvaccinated status
A HIGH school has sparked outrage after marking unvaccinated students with a black Sharpie pen at their prom.
Teenagers were branded using a color coded system and then forced to regularly raise their hand while dancing to check "who they were around."
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Pictures from the event at Exeter High School in New Hampshire in June show students with the markings on their hands.
But the move was blasted by parents and one Republican lawmaker.
State Rep. Melissa Litchfield wrote on Facebook last week: "I have had some constituents write to me angry about some things that went on at the event on Saturday evening."
One parent said: "We truly feel they are literally branding our kids if they don't get the 'approved vaccine'."
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Another added: "Marking them, thus singling them out, and then having to raise their hands is beyond tolerable."
"This should NEVER been allowed," one parent said; another said the children were treated “like prisoners in Nazi Germany.”
Litchfield told : "I'm just here because parents are afraid to speak up and they needed a voice and I understand.
"They were horrified to be perfectly honest with you."
She said she has been contacted by a number of parents at the school adding: "Children that were not vaccinated were written on in black Sharpie on their hands and those that were vaccinated had some type of red marker put on them.
"You had to produce your papers, and if you didn't produce your papers, you were branded with a black Sharpie.
"What does that mean to you? I'm just going to let that sit there."
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The school's principal said the move was an attempt for the teens to "enjoy a close to normal."
Principal Mike Monahan said in a statement: "Our student and parent feedback has been extremely positive regarding the prom experience.
"We are aware that some concerns have been expressed that students were singled out or had their privacy violated.
"We made every effort possible – while adhering to contact tracing guidelines – to ensure that this did not happen.
"We hope the community will understand that while no model is perfect, this model let the students enjoy a close to normal and highly desired experience to cap off their senior year.
"That’s the memory we want to leave them with."
District officials said the markings were the school's own contract tracing system and pupils were warned in advance.
Litchfield disputes that parents knew.
The school said there have been no COVID cases connected to the prom.
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They added in a statement: "The prom attendee list does not have any personally identifiable information on it regarding student vaccinations and did not list the numbers assigned to students.
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"Only a single set of cards with this information exists for tracking purposes and the class advisor was the only individual that possessed them.
"Those cards will be destroyed in the next few days. As a result, there will be no unique identifiers that can be tied back to students who were unable to show proof of vaccination."
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