When Nicole Rieck learned that the school district where she works in North County plans to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations by July 2022, the first-grade teacher joined a local advocacy group called Let Them Choose.
“I don't want to lose my job,” Rieck told the Southern California Record. “I love teaching and public school is where my heart is so it would be really heartbreaking for me to leave.”
The married mother of two children has no plan to comply with her school district’s mandate when and if COVID-19 vaccines are ever imposed.
“Some of the vaccines’ ingredients concern me and the biggest thing is the long-term effects,” Rieck said. “We don't know what they are and that concerns me a lot. I'm still young and I have a lot ahead of me and I want to know what it's doing to do to our bodies first.”
Rieck is also concerned that the school district, located an hour away from San Diego, will want to force vaccinate her 5-year-old daughter.
“My daughter is in kindergarten so she does fit into the category that the state is thinking will be FDA approved for the COVID-19 vaccine by the fall,” Rieck said. “She is so happy at the school that we go to but I have to think about the next step if we do have to leave public school because of the vaccine.”
As a result of her concerns, Rieck was among the parents and teachers who attended a rally this week hosted by Let Them Choose at Balboa Park in San Diego to send a message to the California legislature.
“The focus of everybody's talks was to advocate to our representatives about protecting personal belief exemptions,” Rieck said. “Everybody who spoke was encouraging parents, not only to speak up but to also get involved and even consider running for a seat on their school board.”
Speakers at the rally included Anthony Trimino, a businessman who is campaigning for governor as a Republican, and Bryan Maryott who is running for Congress.
“We know that the legislative session is opening back up and we know that personal belief exemptions are something that is going to be on the table for consideration,” Rieck said. “We are encouraging people and raising awareness that this is something that we really want to advocate for to make sure that personal belief exemptions are protected.”
Let Them Choose, a coalition of some 30,000 parents, sued San Diego Unified School District over its student vaccine mandate and, on Dec. 20, San Diego Superior Court Judge John Meyer ruled that it is the state legislature, not school districts, that have authority to mandate coronavirus vaccinations among students 16 years and older without a personal belief exemption.
“My school district has followed everything that San Diego Unified does,” Rieck said. “We're usually about a few weeks to a month behind all of their big choices so we watch them very closely because whatever decisions they make in their district trickles up to us.”
But, for now, Rieck is hopeful she will have options when the time comes.
“I've been in contact with my union a lot and it sounds like our district will be honoring religious exemptions for staff and then personal belief exemptions for students so that's definitely positive,” she added.