The San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) is violating students’ rights to an in-person education by requiring them to continue to wear masks until April 4, according to a coalition of some 70,000 parents.
“San Diego Unified has no justification for what it's doing,” said Sharon McKeeman, founder of Let Them Choose. “They can't say that it's the state making them do it. It's very simple. The kids take the masks off and they start back on their road to recovery and normalcy in school.”
The state announced last week that, as of March 12, masking is no longer mandatory for schools and childcare facilities, according to media reports.
“That’s nearly a month between March 12 and April 4th and that month is still drastically harming students that are falling further and further behind in their learning,” McKeeman told the Southern California Record.
In an attempt to influence SDUSD to lift the school mask mandate sooner than April 4, Let Them Breathe staged a rally on March 8 outside of SDUSD’s school administration building.
“To be honest, a rally is not going to change San Diego Unified's mind, unfortunately, because they're simply not listening to parents,” McKeeman said. “We're trying to raise awareness for the legal effort we're already in with San Diego Unified and help the community support it because there's a lot of parents that are just waking up.”
Let Them Choose 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.
Let Them Choose and Let Them Breathe are sister organizations.
While SDUSD is appealing Meyer's decision, the ban on their vaccine mandate was stayed by the appellate court.
"It honestly seems like SDUSD is more concerned about getting recognition from the teacher's unions and politicians with extreme agendas that they partner with than doing the right thing for students," McKeeman added. "It's so clear that they're not following the science and that this April 4 date is arbitrary. They don't seem concerned at all with anything except just pushing forward that extreme agenda and making the people who stand for those extreme agendas happy."
On March 8, the same day as the Let The Breathe rally, SDUSD unanimously voted to implement their vaccine mandate in September, according to McKeeman.
“SDUSD is going ahead with their vaccine mandate and using taxpayer dollars for an appeal even though a judge made it clear that this vaccine mandate is unlawful,” she said. "The only reason they are implementing the mandate for the fall is that they're appealing the ruling that struck down their mandate, and they've gotten a procedural stay. It wasn't based on the legal merits.”