Clovis Unified School District’s Board of Trustees recently voted to refuse to implement Gov. Gavin Newsom’s pending COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
In a 5-0 vote, the CUSD Board of Trustees decided to “not ‘support, enforce or comply with’” the mandate.The decision came during a Tuesday meeting and applies to both students and staff. According to CUSD, they will discuss and possibly make a decision on mask mandates and testing protocols at a later meeting on Nov. 23.In a Nov. 4 letter, the district said it was aware of the possible repercussions, including loss of funding and “other formal actions.”
This decision follows after the Mark Twain Union Elementary School District became the first in the county to vote against enforcing the mandate. Other California districts appear to be considering whether to make the same move.
Some school districts throughout the state have similarly expressed concerns or pledged not to uphold the mandate, including districts in Apple Valley and Happy Valley, with one school board member in Temecula Valley resigning to avoid getting vaccinated, though it is undetermined whether the state rules apply to school board members.While the CUSD board’s decision was unanimous regarding the mandate for children to be vaccinated, discussions over whether the same rules should apply to teachers and school staff presented differing opinions.A theme of solidarity and mutual support was echoed throughout comments from concerned parents, teachers, and school board trustees. Two fourth grade students from Valley Springs Elementary also rose to the podium, to ask the board to consider their feelings about the mandate.Fourth grader Liz Montgomery got chuckles from the packed room when she said, “I don’t want to be homeschooled. My mom already homeschooled me last year, and it was not the best.”
The usual threats of fiscal punish do not seem to be swaying this district, due to the number of parents who will outright leave the public school system if the mandate goes forward.
“We’re listening to parents. We get input every time we go to the grocery store.” said Jenny Eltingham, president of the Mark Twain board, which voted unanimously Nov. 4 to ignore the mandate.The 30-year school board veteran said she wasn’t worried about losing funding, given a survey of families found parents of more than half of the district’s 630 students would pull their children out of the schools if staying meant getting the vaccine.
Interestingly, many parents are now pursing medical exemptions in response to the looming requirements.
Medical exemptions in California have recently increased, quadrupling over a four-year span through 2019-20 for kindergarten students, the entry grade tracked by the state and federal government, despite population size decreasing. That rate far outpaces national figures that have been flat in the same period, according to federal data.At the same time, the state is disciplining more doctors over their exemptions, which in most cases excused children from all vaccines, a review of state medical data found.
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