LAUSD Considers Pushing Back Vaccine Mandate For Students

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – Following several days of protests, the Los Angeles Unified School District announced Friday that it may consider delaying the requirement that all students be vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to attend in-person classes.

The LAUSD Board of Education will hold a meeting Monday to discuss whether to delay the requirement to the fall semester of 2022.

Back in September, the LAUSD board approved a mandate requiring that all students ages 12 and older be fully vaccinated. As it stands now, the mandate would take effect when the spring semester begins on Jan. 10.

Students ages 12 and older who are not fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by that time would not be allowed onto an LAUSD campus. They would either be required to transfer into the district's online instruction program, or leave the district entirely.

This follows a report Tuesday from the Los Angeles Times which stated that approximately 34,000 LAUSD students ages 12 and older are either unvaccinated or have not reported their vaccination status to the district. In a news release Friday, LAUSD said the possible change in its guidelines was prompted by the rate of students who are currently fully vaccinated, a number which currently stands at 86.52%.

"The science is clear – vaccinations are an essential part of protection against COVID-19," interim LAUSD Superintendent Megan K. Reilly said in a statement. "LAUSD applauds the 86.52 percent of students aged 12 and older and their families who are in compliance with the vaccine mandate, and the many other families who are still in the process of adding their vaccine records to the system. This is a major milestone, and there's still more time to get vaccinated!"

All LAUSD faculty and staff are also required to be vaccinated. LAUSD confirmed Tuesday that 496 district employees had been fired for not meeting the vaccine mandate.

This also comes on the heels of the announcement that Alberto Carvalho, the current head of Miami-Dade County Public Schools, has been selected to be next LAUSD superintendent.

LAUSD, the second largest school district in the nation, has more than 600,000 students and 75,000 teachers and staff.