By The FirstA vaccine mandate for students in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) has been struck down by a Superior Court judge; the mandate was set to go into effect next year.
Board members in the district have not announced plans to appeal.
According to The Daily Wire, “Let Them Breathe, a California-based organization opposed to vaccine and mask mandates in schools, celebrated the ruling by Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff.”
“Judge Beckloff’s ruling confirms that individual school districts do not have the authority to impose local vaccination requirements in excess of statewide requirements,” said Arie L. Spangler, a legal representative of the plaintiff. “We are very pleased with the ruling, as it ensures that no child will be forced out of the classroom due to their COVID-19 vaccination status.”
The vaccine mandate for district employees is still in place.
From The Daily Wire:
Beckloff indicated that he initially believed that the school district’s policy fell short of a mandate since unvaccinated students would be allowed to attend online courses. The content of their education would remain the same, even if the means did not. However, the evidence presented over the course of the case changed his mind. For example, a student identified as D.F., would have been forced out of a magnet program specializing in science and into less specialized online coursework.
“Thus, while the Resolution is a campus community health and safety measure, it also dictates who may be enrolled and continue to attend particular schools within the district,” the judge explained in his nine-page decision. “If D.F. remains unvaccinated, he will be required to leave his current school with its curriculum and programs to be enrolled in a new school within the district … where it appears his curriculum would be very different than at his current school. Thus, the Resolution is not merely about how education is delivered or who may be physically present on campus as the court previously viewed it. Instead, the Resolution dictates which school the student may attend, and the curriculum he may continue to receive.”
