LAUSD Might Back Down On COVID Vaccine Mandate For Students

Los Angeles CA

10 December, 2021

8:12 PM

Description

LOS ANGELES, CA — Despite insisting for months that the COVID vaccine mandate for students would not be pushed back, the Los Angeles Unified School District board next week will consider delaying enforcement of its mandate. If they choose not to delay enforcement, more than 30,000 students will be forced to return to remote learning. The board will consider delaying enforcement until fall of 2022. If so, they would be backing down on one of the strictest vaccine mandates of any school district in the nation. Officials credit the mandate with the district's vaccine rate of 86.52 percent. Today, LAUSD students are vaccinated at higher rates than the general population. The district faced a small level of opposition to its employee vaccination mandate, and the board did not back down. The board had the support of the union in requiring staffers to get vaccinated. This week, nearly 500 of the district's 73,000 employee lost their jobs for refusing to comply with the vaccine mandate. Currently, the district's mandate requires all students aged 12 and up to have their second dose of vaccine by Dec. 19. More than 30,000 students didn't get a first-shot in time to get their second dose by Dec. 19. Under the current mandate, those students would be forced into remote-learning programs. If the board back's down from the current vaccination timeline, it would institute a more robust weekly COVID-19 testing plan than is currently planned for the spring. Students taking part in extracurricular programs were required to receive their second dose by Oct. 31. "The science is clear -- vaccinations are an essential part of protection against COVID-19," Interim Superintendent Megan K. Reilly said. "Los Angeles Unified applauds the 86.52 percent of students aged 12 and older and their families who are in compliance with the vaccine mandate, and the many other families who are still in the process of adding their vaccine records to the system. This is a major milestone, and there's still more time to get vaccinated." The district's mandate does not include students under age 12, who are only encouraged — but not required — to get vaccinated. District officials said they will continue working to ensure all students have access to vaccines, and that their families receive the information they need "to make an informed choice" about vaccinating their children. Even if the board delays enforcement of the vaccine mandate, the district will continue to require baseline and weekly testing of all students and staff, regardless of vaccination status, through January. Beginning in February, only unvaccinated students will be required to undergo weekly testing. "Abundant praise and gratitude to the Los Angeles Unified students and families who have already met the vaccination requirement, staff who have worked under extreme hardship with grace and professionalism and our partners, who have supported our health and safety efforts,* Reilly said in her statement. "Together, we continue to move toward the best and safest possible learning environment for all students and families." City News Service contributed to this report.