The Granada Hills Charter School is being sued by parents who are challenging the forced COVID-19 vaccination of their children enrolled in the school.
Let Them Choose, a coalition of some 30,000 parents, filed their lawsuit against the public charter school on Jan. 2 in Los Angeles Superior Court.
“Parents want to be able to make these choices themselves,” said Sharon McKeeman, founder of Let Them Choose. “They don't want to see their students coerced into getting a vaccine, especially when it's already been proven in court that the school districts do not have the authority to mandate this and personal belief exemptions do have to be honored under California state law.”
The complaint states that the school’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate is unlawful because it requires school administrators and staff to exclude a child 12 years of age or older from attending in-person classes, and participating in extracurricular activities and programs, including sports, unless they are vaccinated.
“They initially put their vaccine mandate into place because they said that Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) was implementing one but even though LAUSD has suspended their implementation, Granada Hills is going forward,” McKeeman told the Southern California Record.
The LAUSD Board of Education delayed enforcement until Fall 2022, according to media reports.
Numerous parents called in to the Granada Hills Charter School board meetings to oppose its policy to no avail, according to the complaint, and the school allegedly severely limited the number of parents who were permitted to comment and did not offer a Zoom or other video platform for parents to address their concerns.
"It's really not in the best interest of students that school districts are causing parents to have to come together, raise the funds, and work with an organization like Let Them Choose to bring this litigation forward and spend tax dollars, time and effort on the same legal issue that's already been proven in another school district," McKeeman said.
Let Them Choose sued San Diego Unified School District over its student vaccine mandate last year and, on Dec. 20, 2021, 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.
“It's unfortunate that, since these are individual school districts putting forth these mandates, we have to sue them individually,” McKeeman added. “The San Diego ruling is only binding on that school or school district even though the legal issues are the same.”