Culver City Unified School District to require COVID Vaccination.
Must Email before 3pm to give Public Comment Today, Tuesday August 24 at 5pm
You must email the School Board before 3pm today if you wish to give Public Comment
Please email publiccommentsccusd@ccusd.org before 3pm and
say you want to give public comment at Agenda Item 1.2 on Agenda Item 3.2
Zoom link to join the CCUSD Board Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85128048385?pwd=c3BsL21RVTg2V1J5Nm9NQ09nZjJydz09
Action Alert: Give public comment during Agenda Item 1.2 on Closed session items. The Item you are responding to is Agenda Item 3.2: Conference with Legal Counsel – Anticipated Litigation – Significant exposure to litigation Pursuant to Paragraph 2 or 3 Subdivision (d) of GC §54956.9 (One potential case – communication from A Voice for Choice Advocacy dated August 19, 2021). If you are related to Culver City in any way (parent of a child that goes to their schools, live in the city, grew up in the city, etc.) mention that. Please be professional when giving public comment.
Talking Points can be found in A Voice for Choice Advocacy’s letter which was sent to the CCUDS Superintendent and Board Members (full text: https://avoiceforchoiceadvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/AVFCA-Letter-re-CCUSD-COVID-Vaccine-081921.pdf). However the key message should be Culver City Unified School District should not discriminate or segregate on medical status, religious beliefs or any other reason.
Per California law, Culver City Unified School District cannot require the COVID-19 vaccine, unless either 1) the legislature passes a law that states it is required for school (per the childhood vaccines requirements for school) or 2) the California Department of Public Health puts out regulations stating such (in which case they would also have to allow a personal belief exemption), neither of which have happened to date. Furthermore, a school district cannot change their enrollment policy without a change in board policy, which would require it to be presented in a public Board of Education meeting and allow for public comment. It also goes against Culver City Unified School District’s Nondiscrimination Statement. Specifically:
California Statute: Per Section 120335 of the CA Health and Safety Code, Culver City Unified School District does not have the jurisdiction to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for K-12 students. This can only be done by the California Public Health Department, who would have to offer a Personal Belief Exemption, or through the passing of a law by the State Legislature and Governor.
Culver City Unified School District’s Board Policy change: “Culver City Supt. Quoc Tran said the student vaccine mandate was issued after safety protocol discussions with the school board, teacher and employee unions and parents — who agreed that the requirement would help protect their schools as much as possible.” (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/culver-city-unified-to-require-student-covid-19-vaccinations-in-what-may-be-a-first/ar-AANtIUI). Discussions are not enough to make a change in enrollment policy and add a vaccine requirement. The board must put a proposal for such a policy change on a Board Meeting agenda and allow for discussion and public comment. If passed, the board must also make the details of such a policy change available on their website and the school districts website.
Culver City Unified School District Discrimination Statement: “CCUSD prohibits, at any district school or school activity, unlawful discrimination, including discriminatory harassment, intimidation, and bullying targeted at any student by anyone, based on the student’s actual or perceived race, color, ancestry, nationality, national origin, immigration status, ethnic group identification, ethnicity, age, religion, political affiliation, marital status, pregnancy, parental status, physical or mental disability, medical condition, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression, or genetic information, or association with a person or group with one or more of these actual or perceived characteristics or beliefs.” Students may not be getting this vaccine for religious reasons, because of their disability, because of a medical condition, because of genetic information and possibly protected groups listed above.
Emergency Use Authorization and Liability: The vaccine clinical trials endpoints of all three vaccines were to reduce hospitalization and death. They did not analyze for transmission or prevention of infection. The delta variant is now the dominant variant in California. The CDC has made it clear, in recent weeks, that vaccinated persons can transmit the delta variant, and even have as high viral loads as the unvaccinated. At this point, those who are vaccinated have protected themselves against severe COVID or death. Those who have made the choice not to get vaccinated, are no different from those who are vaccinated other than if they get the disease they risk possibly getting sicker than those who are vaccinated who get COVID. It is a personal choice to get vaccinated or not, but the risk of transmitting it to someone else seems to be similar. Requiring the COVID-19 vaccine, especially among children, to reduce transmission of SARS-COV-2 is not the answer.
While COVID-19 vaccines have been granted Emergency Use Authorization for those 12 years and older, they are not likely to get fully approved by the FDA until the end of this year. These vaccines, especially among 12-15 year olds are still in the experimental phase with no large scale data on the safety and efficacy of either vaccine. Under the Federal Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act, all COVID-19 vaccine makers are provided immunity from liability for their products. However, CCUSD and the schools implementing this requirement open themselves up for lawsuits if a student is injured by a required COVID-19 vaccine.
While AVFCA is hopeful that this will educate CCUSD and a retraction will follow, unfortunately other school districts and the state often follow CCUSD’s lead. AVFCA will remain on high alert, especially given the Governor and Legislature’s seeming desire to mandate vaccines for everyone.
If you found this information helpful and appreciate the work A Voice for Choice Advocacy is doing, please support us by making a donation today. (www.avoiceforchoiceadvocacy.org/donate)