The San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) unanimously voted to appeal a San Diego Superior Court judge’s ruling that it is the state legislature, not school districts, that have authority to mandate coronavirus vaccinations among students 16 years and older without exemptions.
“SDUSD's Roadmap appears to be necessary and rational, and the district's desire to protect its students from COVID-19 is commendable,” wrote Judge John Meyer in the Dec. 20 opinion. “Unfortunately, the field of school vaccine mandates has been fully occupied by the State, and the Roadmap directly conflicts with state law. The addition of a COVID-19 vaccine mandate without a personal belief exemption must be imposed by the Legislature.”
A coalition of some 30,000 parents known as Let Them Choose sued SDUSD on Oct. 12 after the school board unanimously passed a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for students and staff in September that would have relegated unvaccinated students to independent study.
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“The judge’s ruling is only binding on San Diego Unified,” said Sharon McKeeman, founder of Let Them Choose. “It doesn't actually strike down other mandates around the state. However, we are going to be moving forward with legal action against other school districts and private schools within the state. We expect there to be very similar decisions because the legal issues are very clear.”
On Oct. 1, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the COVID-19 vaccine will be required for in-person school attendance but SDUSD’s vaccine mandate differs from the statewide requirement in that it does not allow for religious exemptions.
“The statutory scheme leaves no room for each of the more than 1,000 individual school districts to impose a patchwork of additional vaccine mandates, including those like the Roadmap that lack a personal belief exemption and therefore are even stricter than what the DPH could itself impose upon learned consideration,” Meyer’s opinion further states.
About 10.4% of San Diego residents between the ages of 12 and 19 years old have been vaccinated, as of Dec. 22, according to the county’s Epidemiology and Immunization Services Branch (EISB).
"We do not expect the appellate court to come to a different conclusion," McKeeman told the Southern California Record. "In the meantime, there is a ruling in place against the SDUSD vaccine mandate and they cannot enforce it.”
Let Them Choose has also sued Palisades Charter High School in Los Angeles Unified School District and has plans to pursue legal action against other schools and school districts.
"We are sending a demand letter to Granada Hills Charter School in Los Angeles Unified School District and we will be moving forward with litigation with parents there if they don't drop their mandate," McKeeman said.
In their complaint, Let them Choose is opposing Palisades Charter High Schools' COVID-19 student vaccine mandate.
“As an independent charter school, the Palisades Charter High School board enjoys autonomy from LAUSD," said Arie Spangler, attorney for Let Them Choose. "Unfortunately, however, it decided to follow LAUSD’s misguided and illegal decision to mandate the COVID shot for students. They are probably getting pressure from parents. Some parents are very pro-vaccine mandate. They think that it will protect everyone and then there are probably some political things going on there as well within the district that are impacting the board's decision."