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Governor Gavin Newsom’s announcement last week that COVID-19 vaccines will be needed for students aged 12 and older received broad support and many questions from local education officials.
School officials on the peninsula generally agree with the idea of a vaccination mandate, but some say there are still many details to work out.
For Palo Alto Unified School District superintendent Don Austin, news of a vaccination warrant was “relatively predictable,” but the lack of written documentation on how the new rules work has left many problems unanswered.
“Right away the principals have a thousand questions, which are in addition to the questions we got right away from parents and staff,” Austin said. “The frustration starts with having to wait for clarification on exactly what this means and the potential delays.”
The governor announced at a press conference on Oct. 1 that students will need to be fully immunized to participate in face-to-face teaching. The mandate will not take effect until the start of next year’s college semester, either Jan. 1 or July 1, after the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approves the injections for ages 12 and older.
Based on current FDA timelines, the state expects students in Grades 7 to 12 to be required to be vaccinated by July 1, 2022.
In response to questions from the weekly, the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) communications office said in a statement that once the FDA has fully approved a vaccine for students in a given range of levels schools, the state’s health department will consider recommendations from other groups, including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the American Academy of Pediatrics, before implementing a requirement.
The CRPD will then begin a rulemaking process to flesh out the details, gather public comment and potentially include exceptions to the mandate, the statement said.
“We will make an announcement when we have more information to share,” a spokesperson for the communications office said.
Los Altos School District Superintendent Jeff Baier said he believed the mandate was a “positive step” to protect the health of students and staff, adding that it was similar to vaccines already prescribed by the Condition, including mumps, measles and rubella.
“This is yet another disease over which we can exert some control and really make sure our students are able to stay in school in person with much less worry of a major outbreak,” Baier said. “Everyone who participates is essential in this regard. “
Jennifer Matus, a parent of Mountain View High School, said the vaccination requirement reassures her about her children’s attendance at school, especially with the emergence of COVID-19 cases among those vaccinated.
“Personally, I love it. I think that makes a lot of sense,” she said. “Children always have vaccine requirements for the safety of students and adults.”
Matus is the president of Mountain View High’s PTSA, but said she only speaks for herself. Matus said she knew of other families who did not have their children vaccinated, including some of her son’s friends.
Los Altos High School senior Serena Gaylord also backs the mandate, saying that even though she is vaccinated, she knows other students are not.
“I think it’s really important, especially because kids don’t have a lot of autonomy in deciding whether or not they can be vaccinated,” Gaylord said. “It’s their parents’ decision.”
Some teachers have also expressed support for the vaccine requirement. John Davenport, who teaches history at Corte Madera School in Portola Valley and is president of the Portola Valley Teachers Association, said his mindset towards COVID-19 vaccines is “the crazier the more.”
“We can hopefully go back to something a little less restrictive than what we have now,” he said of current classroom safety protocols.
The vaccination mandate will also apply to school personnel. Public school employees will need to be vaccinated when the mandate goes into effect for students. Currently, teachers and staff who are not vaccinated must undergo regular testing.
Palo Alto Superintendent Austin said much was still unclear about the staff mandate, such as whether there would be exemptions and what would happen to unvaccinated employees.
Menlo Park City School District Superintendent Erik Burmeister is optimistic that “the medical, legal and logistical issues will resolve themselves” over the next few months, he said in an email on Wednesday. .
The main issue raised by Newsom’s announcement is what happens if a student does not get the vaccine.
Baier of the Los Altos District speculated that these students may need to enroll in independent study programs that districts are required to offer this year.
“There are some skeletal details here, but we haven’t seen… the California Department of Public Health regulations yet,” Baier said. “Once we see them, we’ll have a better idea.”
Superintendents also questioned whether families will be able to withdraw from the warrant. Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District Superintendent Nellie Meyer said it appeared from the governor’s statements that he was exploring the possibility of offering exemptions to the COVID-19 vaccine.
“I look forward to this advice,” Meyer said.
Exemptions based on personal beliefs are not permitted for other vaccinations currently required by the State of California, although vaccination is not required to enroll in independent study programs that do not include classroom teaching.
Enrolling unvaccinated students in the district’s independent study program appears to be the most likely option at this point, according to Meyer.
Austin said it would be “disappointing” if the vaccine’s mandate meant that more students did not receive in-person education, when the goal is to ensure that students can stay on campus.
Another open question, Baier said, is how many vaccines must receive full approval before the mandate takes effect. Currently, only the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is fully approved for ages 16 and over, with Moderna and Johnson & Johnson still under emergency use authorizations. Pfizer is the only vaccine currently available for those under the age of 18 and is given under emergency use authorization for those 12 to 16 years of age.
Austin said he “absolutely” supports mandatory COVID-19 vaccination for ages 12 and up once the FDA gives full approval, adding that although he normally favors local control, he believes it would have been “irresponsible” for the state to quit the decision over a vaccination mandate to local districts.
“I support the state doing it for an entire state, rather than leaving it to 1,050 individual school districts,” Austin said. “I think this path was going to be a disaster.”
Some local school districts had publicly pushed the state to issue a vaccination warrant before Newsom’s announcement. Sequoia Union School District Superintendent Darnise Williams and school board members recently sent a letter to Newsom, asking the state to add the COVID-19 vaccine to the list of legally required vaccines.
School district officials felt pressured to make medical decisions while “squarely in the midst of political divisions,” instead of focusing on educating students, she said.
San Mateo County Superintendent of Schools Nancy Magee co-signed the Sequoia District letter.
“When students at all levels are fully immunized, levels of protection increase,” she said in an email. “This will allow schools to start operating with fewer restrictions and, in turn, will increase the quality and stability of the teaching / learning environment as well as reduce the burden on principals and staff.”
In the Mountain View district of Los Altos Union High School, Meyer said the district administration board had not taken a formal position on the mandate, but added that the district supported the vaccination of students.
“The more students and staff we can vaccinate, the safer our community will be,” said Meyer.
Magee noted that the boards of directors of each school district may decide to adopt immunization mandates earlier than July if they deem it necessary.
Menlo Park Superintendent Burmeister has agreed that school boards will have some flexibility to mandate vaccinations earlier than the state. But most advice probably wouldn’t do it until the vaccines got full FDA approval.
The Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine is expected to receive emergency approval from the FDA this month for children aged 5 to 11. To prepare for a ‘robust and effective’ vaccination process for this age group, the San Mateo County Office of Education is working with the county health department and local districts to plan vaccination events. in schools from the beginning of November.
Menlo Park district officials have already scheduled an immunization clinic with Safeway Pharmacy for children aged 5 to 11 on Saturday, November 6 at Hillview Middle School.
Some school districts have already started asking students to voluntarily disclose their immunization status. About 50% of students in Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District have submitted proof of vaccination, Associate Superintendent Leyla Benson said.
The “vast majority” of this information came from students who had been identified as close contact with a positive COVID-19 case, Benson said. Vaccinated students who are close contacts can usually continue to participate in extracurricular activities while getting tested for COVID-19, while their unvaccinated peers must be absent.
Benson and Meyer both said they believe the actual number of students who have been vaccinated is well over 50%, but said many students might not see the need to submit their vaccination information.
“If there is some kind of requirement imposed, or a local requirement, I think the number will increase very quickly,” Benson said.
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