Sunday marked the deadline for Los Angeles Unified School District students on sports teams and other in-person extracurricular programs to show proof of full COVID-19 vaccination.
Parents were warned that after Sunday, children will not be allowed to participate in in-person extracurricular activities without proof of vaccination if they qualify to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the district’s website.
Approximately 77% of LAUSD students in high school athletics, band and drill met the deadline and are cleared to participate in their activities, a Los Angeles Unified spokesperson told KTLA Tuesday.
The spokesperson did not have an exact figure for the number of LAUSD students that have so far been stopped from participating in extracurricular activities because they aren’t vaccinated.
More than 100 students at Taft High School in Woodland Hills were alerted they no longer were allowed to play on teams, the Los Angeles Times reported.
KTLA spoke to students at the school who have friends who were stopped from participating in their teams.
“A lot of them would be vaccinated if it wasn’t for their parents … I know a lot of seniors, they’re going to get vaccinated once they turn 18,” Taft High School student Tia Butler said.
Students said the parents’ decisions not to vaccinate their children is unfair, especially for seniors who were hoping to play on their teams during their last year at school.
“Their parents won’t let them get the vaccine,” said Shane Hurley, another Taft High School student. “I feel like that’s very unfair, because what if they really want to play, they really want to get the vaccine, because you know, sports is something they love?”
The district’s vaccine mandate is not just for students participating in extracurricular activities.
All eligible LAUSD students who don’t get exemptions will have to receive a first dose no later than Nov. 21 and a second dose no later than Dec. 19 to resume in-person learning in January.
Beginning Jan. 10, 2022, all eligible students who do not submit proof of vaccination won’t be allowed on school campuses.
They will be referred to the district’s independent study program, unless an exemption or conditional admissions apply.