A preliminary injunction hearing is set for Feb. 4 in a lawsuit filed by the family of a 12-year student against the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) over its vaccine mandate.
“We wanted a ruling a lot sooner because obviously it's making everyone really nervous to think that students might be kicked out of school on January 10 and our hearing is not until the seventh,” said Arie Spangler, attorney for the plaintiff parent.
LA Superior Court Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff made the decision after declining to hear a motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO).
Plaintiff G.F. sued LAUSD on behalf of their child who is enrolled in seventh grade at the Science Academy STEM Magnet school.
LAUSD has mandated COVID-19 immunizations by January 7 for students who are 12 years old and older.
“They are requiring a vaccine that's only Emergency Use Authorized, which is really upsetting to a lot of parents especially with myocarditis, and the fact that the FDA is still looking to see if the dosage is appropriate for 12-to-15-year-old students,” Spangler told the Southern California Record.
The plaintiffs in G.F. v. LAUSD seek a declaration that the district lacks authority to issue a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for students, that the vaccine mandate is invalid and unlawful and that LAUSD cannot require schools to exclude a student unvaccinated for COVID-19 from in-person learning.
“Kids' education and their social lives and basically their whole future are at stake because a lot of kids aren't going to get vaccinated and if they get kicked out of school, then that sets the tone for their entire life," Spangler said.
All students age 12 and above who choose not to receive a COVID-19 vaccine will not be permitted to attend classes or participate in extracurricular activities, including sports, on any LAUSD campuses, according to the Oct. 8 complaint. Instead, children will be enrolled in the district’s City of Angels independent study program.
“The judge didn't really understand what the big issue was with ordering kids involuntarily to transfer to independent study so we had to educate him on that,” Spangler said. ‘Independent study is all at home and they're not allowing kids to go on campus for anything, not even for tutoring.”
The City of Angels website states that it is a full-time virtual academy with 33 sites across LA county but students take all of their courses online using the Edgenuity online curriculum.
“It's up to 30 hours a week of independent work with very little instruction,” Spangler added. “It might be one hour a day at the very most of instruction. The judge is very focused on why parents are objecting to this independent study option and whether the district has the authority to involuntarily place kids in an online independent study.”