Orange County school districts ask California governor to consider rescinding vaccination mandate

 Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District is one of many local K-12 school districts seeking a halt to the current vaccination and masking mandates. Panther Archives

The Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District (PYLUSD) Board of Education passed a resolution 4-1 Feb. 8 asking Gov. Gavin Newsom to “reconsider or rescind” the vaccination mandate geared towards public and private K-12 students and staff. Now, other local school districts are following suit in adopting an anti-vaccination mindset.

Before the resolution was passed at the meeting, one resident spoke up and said that the wording on the resolution asking the governor to “reconsider” was “not strong enough.”

“I implore you to tell him our district believes in parental choice and that it is wrong to uniformly require a recurring vaccine that has not been proven,” the resident said.

Board trustee Leandra Blades also commented on the resolution’s wording, which was met with clapping from some of the attendees.

“(The resolution) says that we urge the governor to reconsider, (but) I say we demand the governor to reconsider,” Blades said. “That’s the type of language we used in the letter that we gave to you, Gov. Newsom, when we went up to Sacramento to give the letter. The language was stronger, and I think we should say that we demand because we’re demanding this for our constituents.”

After the winter break ended, many districts in the county reported hundreds of COVID-19 cases on their dashboards in the middle of January, among which were the Santa Ana Unified, Newport-Mesa Unified, Capistrano Unified and Huntington Beach Unified school districts. 

These cases were associated with an Omicron surge that the county was experiencing, which resulted in an increase of staff shortages and student absences — though student attendance has improved since Feb. 1. Despite the documented increase in COVID-19 transmission, many of these school districts argue against the efficacy of a vaccination mandate.

This is not the first time an Orange County school district has discussed this resolution; in October 2021, Capistrano Unified School District passed an identical resolution. As of Feb. 12, students are not required to be vaccinated, but they must wear masks in the indoor spaces and are thus provided with cloth and disposable masks.

Lisa Davis, a member of Capistrano’s Board of Trustees, told The Panther she believes the statewide mask and vaccination mandates should be removed. A concern Davis has about the mask mandates is the difficulty they create for children who are having to read and learn sounds through a mask, especially since Davis used to teach kindergarten.

“Children need to see and watch people’s faces,” Davis said. “So much of how we learn to interact with one another is through facial expressions and reading people’s body language and cues … Children are having to strain to try to say the sounds, learn the sounds, watch their teachers and listen to their teachers.”

As for the vaccination mandate, Davis believes that parents should be allowed to choose whether their children get vaccinated.

“I get hundreds of phone calls, texts and emails weekly from families pleading that we do something to remove the mask mandates, to remove the vaccination mandates and allow parents a choice,” Davis said. “They are their children’s advocate and parent, and the government shouldn’t own their children and are not raising them; the parents are, and the parents should have a choice.”

Davis also said she has had some students ask for the removal of the mandates and the option to choose, emphasizing that being able to choose is “perfect” and “what it should be.” 

Karen Rauber, co-vice president of Yorba Linda High School’s PTSA group, told The Panther she is fine with students wearing masks during class, and when they are outside of class, she is also fine with the students removing their masks to get some air and breathe.

“The school should just do what the state mandates, and then, you know, (schools) don’t really have a choice,” Rauber said. “I really don’t understand what the parents are so up in arms about, because it is a state mandate, and I don’t know why they think the schools really have that much of a say to do things different than what is being told to them.”

While Rauber has been vaccinated and she wishes others would as well, she emphasized people should be allowed to choose whether they want to get vaccinated and that they should not be forced to get it if they wish not to.

“If (students) don’t (get vaccinated), I think a compromise would be masking up (and) staying masked up,” Rauber said. “You’re not going to have any solution that’s gonna make everybody happy. There are going to be people that are upset either way you go.”

Aaron Jacoby, a parent of two Orange High School students, agreed with Rauber and Davis in that he believes individuals should be allowed to choose how they personally want to handle COVID-19, though he does feel people should follow the rules. He added that putting mandates in place can help society get control over COVID-19.

Jacoby also said that since the vaccine is neither a cure for the virus nor a guaranteed protectant against contracting COVID-19; it can only benefit or not benefit its recipient, as the vaccine’s effects can vary per person.

“I think we’ve taken the proper steps to get our schools kept safe and (our) kids back to whatever the new normal is going to be,” Jacoby said.

However, Jacoby noted that if the choice to get vaccinated were left up to each individual, rather than enforced by a mandate, there would be a smaller proportion of the vaccinated population.

“If it wasn’t mandated and people were afraid of not being able to go to church, not being able to care for loved ones, (or) not being able to get into a home or school or their job, I think the numbers would be very different,” Jacoby said. “It is very unfortunate that people would choose not to do it, but I still feel it should be a choice and (people should) not be forced to do it.”

Jacoby said he believes that people should worry about what they can control, like wearing a mask in order to enjoy a school basketball game or other event.

“I know parents who have given up everything because they refuse to wear a mask, and to me, that’s ridiculous,” Jacoby said. “I don’t agree with everything, but I am going to abide by the rules so that I can live my life to the best of my liking.”