Here you have it..500,000 students effected, ages 12 and up. Mandatory...no foolin' get the stick..or hit the bricks.
Los Angeles is the first major school district in the United States to mandate coronavirus vaccines for students 12 and older who are attending class in person.
With the Delta variant ripping across the country, the district’s Board of Education voted, 6-0, to pass the measure on Thursday afternoon. The Los Angeles Unified School District is the second largest in the nation, and the mandate would eventually apply to more than 460,000 students, including some enrolled at independent charter schools located in district buildings.
The interim superintendent, Megan Reilly, said at Thursday’s board meeting that student vaccination was one way to ensure that the district’s classrooms would be able to remain open. Los Angeles had some of the country’s most extended school closures last year.
Los Angeles already has a strict vaccine mandate for teachers and staff members, and the new student mandate will further increase the safety of the classroom. But it is also likely to be more divisive, with far-reaching educational repercussions.
According to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, 58 percent of 12- to 18-year-olds living within the district’s boundaries have already received at least one dose of a vaccine. But polls show that many parents are hesitant to vaccinate their children against the coronavirus, raising the question of how many families will keep their children home to learn online or transfer them to schools that do not require the shots.
Leaving the classroom again could be debilitating for some students. When virtual learning was widespread last academic year, millions of children fell behind academically; the impact was largest on low-income students and students of color. The Los Angeles Unified student body is 73 percent Latino, 11 percent white, 8 percent Black and 4 percent Asian. Eighty percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals.
Vaccine hesitancy in Los Angeles exists across a broad range of demographic and ideological groups, from affluent, largely white, liberal parents who oppose a range of mainstream childhood vaccination practices; to conservative activists who have specifically targeted the coronavirus vaccines; to low-income Black and Hispanic families who are wary of the medical establishment.
Los Angeles is the first major school district in the United States to mandate coronavirus vaccines for students 12 and older who are attending class in person.
With the Delta variant ripping across the country, the district’s Board of Education voted, 6-0, to pass the measure on Thursday afternoon. The Los Angeles Unified School District is the second largest in the nation, and the mandate would eventually apply to more than 460,000 students, including some enrolled at independent charter schools located in district buildings.
The interim superintendent, Megan Reilly, said at Thursday’s board meeting that student vaccination was one way to ensure that the district’s classrooms would be able to remain open. Los Angeles had some of the country’s most extended school closures last year.
Los Angeles already has a strict vaccine mandate for teachers and staff members, and the new student mandate will further increase the safety of the classroom. But it is also likely to be more divisive, with far-reaching educational repercussions.
According to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, 58 percent of 12- to 18-year-olds living within the district’s boundaries have already received at least one dose of a vaccine. But polls show that many parents are hesitant to vaccinate their children against the coronavirus, raising the question of how many families will keep their children home to learn online or transfer them to schools that do not require the shots.
Leaving the classroom again could be debilitating for some students. When virtual learning was widespread last academic year, millions of children fell behind academically; the impact was largest on low-income students and students of color. The Los Angeles Unified student body is 73 percent Latino, 11 percent white, 8 percent Black and 4 percent Asian. Eighty percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price meals.
Vaccine hesitancy in Los Angeles exists across a broad range of demographic and ideological groups, from affluent, largely white, liberal parents who oppose a range of mainstream childhood vaccination practices; to conservative activists who have specifically targeted the coronavirus vaccines; to low-income Black and Hispanic families who are wary of the medical establishment.