A lawsuit filed in California Federal Court aims to get Los Angeles County children back into classrooms without restrictions after more than a year of remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Children's Health Defense California and Southern California law firm Tyler & Bursch, LLP filed a complaint in U.S. District Court on behalf of parents seeking to bar the Los Angeles Unified School District and Los Angeles County officials from continuing to implement mandates on children as a requirement for them to return to in-person learning, according to a press release from the law firm.
This is the first lawsuit of its kind filed in California federal court regarding the targeting of school children with illegal and unnecessary COVID mandates, the release states.
"These parents’ refusal to submit to routine, invasive PCR testing of their children; the forced downloading and use of the Microsoft app 'Daily Pass' to collect and disseminate their children’s private health data; and the covering of their children’s faces all day while in school has resulted in LAUSD excluding their healthy children, and thousands of other healthy children, from attending school," the release from the Tyler & Bursch law firm stated.
The lawsuit alleges that LAUSD and county protocols are "discriminatory and exclusionary" and that in-person learning without restrictions should return immediately.
"We do not comment on pending litigation. However, the safety and well-being of our students remains our top priority," said a Los Angeles Unified spokesperson in a statement to the Southern California Record.
The lawsuit alleges that LAUSD has created a system that excludes healthy children from participating in school.
"California's constitutional guarantee of a child's right to a public education cannot be conditioned upon parents relinquishing their rights to protect their children's health, well-being and privacy," said Kristina Heuser, constitutional attorney for Tyler & Bursch and Advocates for Faith & Freedom, in a press release.
The lawsuit also claims that the restrictions are not approved and therefore cannot be required to be used.
"The Daily Pass program is built around products – PCR tests and face masks – that are not approved, and therefore cannot be mandated. Further, the weight of the scientific evidence does not support future approval of these products for the uses for which they are being mandated. With federal law on this subject as clear as it is, we have a strong case that this discriminatory program violates both federal and state law and is unconstitutional," said CHD-CA President Alix Mayer in a press release.