Culver City schools are back in session Thursday, just days after the district’s superintendent announced plans for a mandatory COVID-19 vaccine requirement for all eligible students.
The mandate, which appears to be a first of its kind in California, requires students aged 12 and older to provide proof of vaccination by Nov. 19, Culver City Unified School District Superintended Quoc Tran posted on Facebook Tuesday evening.
“We are mandating vaccines for all eligible staff and students,” Tran stated in the post. The November date was chosen “to give everyone the opportunity to make their vaccine plans,” the post reads.
Officials are hoping that the vaccine, which has been granted emergency use authorization, will have received full approval from the Food and Drug Administration by that date.
Tran said the decision was made following discussions with the school board, teacher and employee unions, and parents, the Los Angeles Times reported. The groups mostly agreed that the plan would help protect the more than 7,000 K-12 students and 900 employees as much as possible, Tran told the paper.
The district may reconsider the mandate if the number of coronavirus cases drops considerably by November. “If the pandemic is tapering off at that time, then we will ease off on that requirement,” Tran told the Times.
California has already ordered that all K-12 school employees be vaccinated or take weekly coronavirus tests. The Los Angeles Unified School District has gone a step further, mandating the vaccine with no testing option.