San Diego Unified announced it will not require students to get vaccines before they participate in sports and extracurricular activities as the Omicron variant skyrockets daily COVID-19 cases.
A memo was released to the district's 16 athletic directors earlier this week, warning "there will be critical information with changes to the district protocols" regarding student vaccination for those participating in sports and extracurricular activities. Under the district's controversial vaccine mandate, students attending in-person classes were to comply by this month.
The vaccination mandate for staff and students 16 and older had a unanimous vote in September by board members for its approval throughout San Diego Unified. The district, which serves more than 121,000 in preschool through the 12th grade, was met with pushback from parents and organizations.
A lawsuit was filed by the group “Let Them Choose” and was granted a writ of mandate by San Diego Superior Court Judge John Meyer. The group worked to stop the school district’s vaccine mandate. The lawsuit cites over 1,600 parents calling into SDUSD’s board meeting discussing the mandate to oppose its proposed vaccination mandate.
The judge wrote in his ruling that the district’s vaccination mandate, which does not permit religious or personal belief exemptions, conflicts with state law. According to Meyer, the state public health department has the authority to impose new vaccine mandates, not school districts.
With the memo, Let Them Choose took the district to court, claiming the district was in violation of the judge's ruling. During a Jan.6 hearing, Meyer announced the documentation outlining the judgment has not been signed yet, meaning the district is not in contempt. District officials argued that the judge’s ruling did not apply to optional activities after school.
“The court order is clear that the district has no authority under California law to mandate any additional vaccinations for its students. We expect San Diego Unified to follow the law and abide by the court order,” said Arie Spangler, an attorney for Let Them Choose, said in a statement.
According to a court document, the judge suggested the district would need to obtain a stay from an appeals court in order to impose a vaccine mandate as his ruling remains.
In an email to parents, the district announced their intention to appeal Meyer’s ruling that will affect over 2,000 unvaccinated students 16 and older. According to the district’s vaccine mandate, unvaccinated students without a medical exemption would have been removed from in-person learning and banned from extracurricular activities beginning Jan.24.
“We remain focused on ensuring that our schools continue to be healthy and safe for our students and staff, even though we cannot currently implement the vaccine mandate,” the district wrote. “We will continue to encourage all eligible students to get vaccinated and plan for the potential that the court of appeal will allow us to move forward in the future.”
