LAUSD Revamps Online Schools For 20,000 Unvaccinated Students
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — The Los Angeles Unified School District voted to revamp their online schools for 20,000 unvaccinated students who will not be allowed to attend in-person classes in the fall.
"We know additionally that when the vaccine mandate kicks in for age-eligible students 12 and up, we will have a new pool of students that we will need to be prepared to serve," said Chief of Schools David Baca.
Currently, there are 18,000 students in the district's online program, 10 times the yearly average of 1,800. The district could create up to six new online schools to accommodate the unvaccinated students who will not be allowed to attend in-person classes once the new school year begins. The district approved a COVID-19 vaccine mandate for those 12 and older which over 90% of students have complied to. The original deadline to comply with the mandate was set for January but was pushed back to the fall of 2022.
"The team is currently meeting with parents to assess their interests and overall needs," said Baca.
However, some parents who have been fighting against the mandate ever since it was implemented are threatening to pull their children out of LAUSD entirely.
"This particular vaccine is an experimental vaccine and some of us who don't want to give it to our children are willing to take them out of school and give them total homeschooling by ourselves to create the pods," said parent Viktoria Daneshrad.
Experts like Dr. Michael Daignault, an emergency room physician, said the vaccine is key to protecting children against COVID-19 illness.
"I think they have to recognize that it's not just about protecting their own kid it's about protecting the community so other kids who may be more at risk to severe COVID illness.
Despite this, parents at the recent school board meeting argued they have the right to not vaccinate their children and oppose online learning.
"This is not a qualified education," said one parent. "My child is in all honors classes and they don't have this special program for them. They don't have enough teachers who are qualified for these particular classes."