COVID California Schools Students Staff and In Person School Closures
COVID VACCINATIONS IN SCHOOLS IN CALIFORNIA
LAWSUIT
Let Them Choose vs. San Diego Unified School District November 22, 2022
G. F. v. Los Angeles Unified School District Order Granting Petition for Writ of Mandate July 5, 2022
CALIFORNIA
STATEMENT ON TIMELINE FOR COVID-19 VACCINE REQUIREMENTS IN SCHOOLS APRIL 14, 2022
California Department of Public Health ORDER Vaccine Verification for Workers in Schools August 11, 2021
California Implements First-in-the-Nation Measure to Encourage Teachers and School Staff to Get Vaccinated August 11, 2021
California Becomes First State in Nation to Announce COVID-19 Vaccine Will Be Added to List of Required School Vaccinations August 11, 2021
HEALTH OFFICER PRACTICE GUIDE FOR COMMUNICABLE DISEASE CONTROL IN CALIFORNIA 6/7/2013
COVID-19 Vaccine Action Plan California Department of Public Health September 23, 2021
Department of Health Care Services Vaccination Incentive Program Outcome Metrics
Personal Beliefs Exemption to Required Vaccinations CDPH 8262
UNITED STATES
Letter to U.S. Governors from HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra on renewing COVID-19 Public Health Emergency February 9, 2023
"I write today to inform you that effective February 11, 2023, I am renewing for 90 days the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) as declared under Section 319 of the Public Health Service Act. Based on current trends regarding COVID-19, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is planning for this to be the final renewal and for the COVID-19 PHE to end on May 11, 2023. Rather than 60 days’ notice, I am providing 90 days’ notice before the COVID-19 PHE ends to give you and your communities ample time to transition."
Incorporating COVID-19 vaccination into sports physicals for student athletes this summer and fall
Sending pediatricians to ‘Back to School Nights’ to get communities vaccinated against COVID-19
Providing schools and colleges with additional resources to host pop-up vaccine clinics as students come back to school and back to campus
Launching the Back to School “Week of Action” with partners nationwide to get young people vaccinated
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona Return to School Roadmap August 5, 2021 (link to video)
Articles California and COVID vaccine mandate in schools
California lawmakers and teachers unions stop short of a vaccine mandate August 9, 2021
"“The need for children to be back in in-person learning has been well demonstrated,” said Monica Gandhi, a professor of medicine at UC San Francisco. “We should do everything we can to keep students in classrooms, including mandating teacher vaccinations.”"
"Megan Bacigalupi, the executive director of Open Schools California, says school districts should take all precautions to ensure in-classroom instruction all year. “Vaccination is the way out of this,” she said. “Getting everyone vaccinated protects everyone, including kids.”"
"The California Teachers Association is strongly supporting vaccines but has so far stopped short of endorsing a vaccination mandate for all public school teachers. Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, the second largest teachers union in the country, said she she would support a vaccination requirement for teachers.
“The circumstances have changed,” she told NBC News. “It weighs really heavily on me that kids under 12 can’t get vaccinated.”"
Newsom to announce nation's first vax-or-test rules for teachers
8/10/2021 "Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to announce Wednesday that California will require all teachers and school employees to be vaccinated or submit to regular Covid-19 testing, the first such state requirement amid growing Delta variant concerns, according to sources familiar with the plan."
Gavin Newsom says a California school vaccine mandate is ‘on the table’
September 28, 2021
"California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday said that his administration hasn’t ruled out implementing a statewide COVID-19 vaccine mandate in K-12 schools.
“We are in discussions with 1,050 school districts,” Newsom said at a Tuesday morning press conference “We’re working very closely with their staff to understand the logistical challenges and hurdles.”"
Teachers need COVID-19 vaccine before L.A. schools can reopen, Beutner says
"“We don’t believe that all employees being vaccinated is a sufficient trigger for the full reopening of schools, because neither vaccine currently on the market is proven to provide sterilizing immunity,” the union said in a bargaining update sent to members. “What this means is that children, who currently do not have a vaccine available for them, and especially the family members they go home to, could continue to be at risk. A safe path to reopening must include low community transmission and infection rates."
A Voice for Choice Advocacy Teacher and Student COVID-19 Vaccination Requirement (Letter)
"This letter is in response to several school districts mentioning that COVID-19 vaccines would be required of employees and students to attend in-person school.
A Voice for Choice Advocacy sincerely objects, on a legal, scientific and religious basis, to such a COVID19 vaccine requirement, and asks your school district NOT to require the COVID-19 vaccine as a prerequisite for in-person education, at this time or in the future"
San Diego Unified School District votes to mandate vaccines for students September 29, 2021
"Eligible students not vaccinated by the deadline will have to do an independent study. They also won’t be able to participate in sports or other after-school activities. Medical exemptions will be allowed but not religious or personal belief, according to KGTV in San Diego. Students who are in a military family, homeless, a foster child, a migrant or have an IEP may be conditionally enrolled in in-person learning."
Can California School Districts Independently Mandate COVID-19 Vaccines For Students? September 29, 2021
"Ultimately, it’s unclear where courts will land on the issue. Jacobs said schools mandating COVID-19 vaccinations are “pushing the envelope” legally."
California Vaccine and Mask Mandate Updates October 1, 2021
"One Southern California school district is being sued for its strict vaccine and mask mandates for children. And while some California counties are expanding their policies, another is easing its rules for the vaccinated."
California to require COVID vaccine for all students, Newsom says October 1, 2021
"“The rules are not new; they are well established. In a way, this is the most predictable announcement that we’ve had in this pandemic,” Newsom said. “Every parent is already familiar with these requirements. This is just another vaccine.”"
Newsom sets COVID vaccine mandate across California schools October 1, 2021
"The COVID vaccine mandate would apply to students 12 and older after they become eligible for a fully approved vaccine."
Here's what's required under California school vaccine rules October 1, 2021
"Students can seek religious and medical exemptions, because the new requirements are being imposed by public health regulation instead of by law. The California Department of Public Health will have to approve the regulations, including the scope of the exemptions, after a public comment period."
California Mandates COVID Vaccine For In-Person School Attendance; 1st State In Nation With Requirement October 1, 2021
"“What you have seen across the country is that leaders assert the need and desire for the social and emotional benefits of in-person instruction, yet they’re not following the science,” the governor said. “Schools have actually closed more frequently in those states that have not been more disciplined in advancing a more scientific and data-driven approach to taming this disease and doing the best to get this pandemic behind us.”"
Student COVID vaccinations: California becomes first state to require them for kids 12 and up October 1, 2021
"In another aggressive effort to stop the spread of COVID-19 and ensure schools remain open, Gov. Gavin Newsom today announced a vaccine mandate for students ages 12 and older, making California the first state in the nation to require students to be fully vaccinated for in-person instruction."
A Voice for Choice Advocacy California K-12 student and staff COVID Vaccine Mandate
"Requirements established by regulation, not legislation, must be subject to exemptions “for both medical reasons and personal beliefs.”
Let Them Breathe launches 'Let Them Choose' initiative for student vaccinations October 3, 2021
"Additionally, Let Them Breathe has mobilized a “Let Them Choose” initiative in regards to vaccination mandates for children, which Gov. Newsom recently mandate for all in-person learning throughout California.
The organization is also planning to legally challenge the state’s new vaccination mandate for students learning in-person."
HUSD school board hears vax rants from parents and teachers October 4, 2021
"It was an intense rant session Monday night at the Hesperia School District, during the school board meeting. The cause? A direct result of Governor Newsom’s COVID-19 vaccine requirement for all students and teachers."
One loophole remains in student COVID-19 vaccination mandate October 6, 2021
"A possible bill, Pan said, would add the COVID-19 vaccine to the list of already required immunizations for both public and private school students. Then it would be treated like the other 10 vaccine requirements that don’t allow for a personal belief exemption under SB 277.
“The problem with the personal belief exemption is that if there are too many people who use it, we’ll have schools that are unsafe,” he said. “We need to be sure kids can stay in school and learn and not have to be sent home for two weeks.”"
Who can opt out of school COVID vaccine mandate? California lawmakers eye crackdown October 7, 2021
"“Personal belief exemptions are a huge loophole, and that’s why they were removed six years ago,” said state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco). “And it’s why they should be removed for COVID-19.”"
Hundreds of families crowd Stanislaus education office to protest student vaccine mandate October 7, 2021
"County Superintendent Scott Kuykendall said in an emailed statement to The Bee on Friday that California should “pump the brakes” on vaccination requirements and allow parents and pediatricians to decide."
HAPPY VALLEY UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT VOTES TO NOT COMPLY WITH ANY MANDATORY VACCINE MANDATES October 12, 2021
"The Happy Valley Union School Board voted to not comply with any mandatory COVID-19 vaccine mandates for students and staff at their school board meeting tonight.
The Happy Valley Elementary School Gym was filled with parents, teachers, and community members all letting their voices be heard on vaccine mandates."
Anti-mask group sues San Diego Unified over vaccine mandate in schools October 12, 2021
"Let Them Choose, a project of the anti-mask group Let Them Breathe, filed its lawsuit against San Diego Unified Monday in San Diego Superior Court.
The lawsuit says the district’s vaccine mandate hurts students because it forces them to learn from home in independent study if they don’t get vaccinated."
Lucerne Valley Unified trustees formally oppose COVID shots for students, say Newsom plan violates 'fundamental rights' October 16, 2021
LVUSD’s five-member Board of Trustees voted unanimously Thursday to pass a resolution stating that mandatory COVID vaccines for in-person schooling would be a “blatant and serious infringement of its students’ fundamental rights,” citing legal, ethical and medical principles for why it opposes enforcing such a move.
LAUSD sued again over student vaccination mandate October 20, 2021
"Attorneys for CHD-CA and P.E.R.K. argued in the petition that LAUSD acted beyond its authority by requiring students 12 and over to receive a vaccine that hasn’t been mandated by the state as a condition for attending
Vaccine rally looks to 2022 November 16, 2021
"“I think the biggest concern families have is that personal choice is going to go away,” said Jonathan Zachreson, the organizer of Reopen California Schools. “Obviously they’re upset with Newsom, but they’re upset also with what the Legislature said it was going to do, which is to restrict choice.” Zachreson said many families are worried that the Legislature next year will strip certain exemptions to the vaccine mandates for school kids."
Stressed school leaders urge California lawmakers to keep student vaccine exemptions November 17, 2021
"Edgar Zazueta, senior director of policy and government relations for the Association of California School Administrators, said the pressure is ramping up on both sides.
“There’s very mixed feelings on the prospect of legislation that would get rid of the personal belief exemption. A number of districts want to close that loophole but there’s an equally strong contingent worried that if it is removed, students are going to leave the system. How are we going to serve them?” Zazueta said."
About 44,000 students haven't met first COVID-19 vaccine deadline and risk being displaced from classroom: LAUSD November 22, 2021
"About 80% of students in the Los Angeles Unified School District are on track to comply with a COVID-19 vaccine mandate, school district officials announced Monday, raising concerns about the potential for thousands of students to be displaced from in-person classes for the start of the spring semester on Jan. 10."
COVID: No vaccine, no school for thousands of Bay Area kids? December 7, 2021
"With deadlines looming, nearly 6,000 students in Oakland Unified and perhaps 1,600 in West Contra Costa Unified school districts have yet to prove they are vaccinated. Elsewhere, some 44,000 students in Los Angeles Unified and 12,000 in Sacramento City Unified also remain unvaccinated."
34,000 L.A. Unified students have not complied with vaccine mandate, signaling problems ahead December 7, 2021
"Shifting 34,000 students 12 and older into independent study would be challenging —especially as the district’s independent study program, called City of Angels, has been beset by staffing shortages and confusion after it was inundated at the start of the school year with about 10,000 students, a number that grew to 16,000. The 34,000 total by itself would make up one of the 25 largest school systems in California.
There’s no indication that L.A. Unified is backing down — with no leniency or extended deadlines under public discussion."
California school offers boy pizza to get vaccinated, tells him not to 'say anything,' mom says December 7, 2021
"A California mother has claimed that her 13-year-old son was told not to say anything after being given the COVID-19 vaccine in exchange for pizza at his school without her consent, according to a local report."
LAUSD's Vaccine Mandate for Students Challenged in Court December 8, 2021
"However, according to the Los Angeles Times, there are approximately 34,000 students in LAUSD who have not complied with the vaccine mandate, and will not be ready to return to classes come Jan. 10, the deadline established by the mandate."
Los Angeles Unified School district likely to lose court fight to impose vaccine mandates December 8, 2021
"The judge walked in with a 12-page proposed order denying CHD’s motion.
Nicole wasn’t going to let that happen. She made a brilliant argument that if the order were to be signed by the judge that every school district in California would be able to set the medical policy for all kids and the State would thus lose control. She also pointed out that schools shouldn’t be allowed to dictate medical policy for kids. If they can do it for vaccines, then they should be able to require birth control so kids don’t get pregnant and miss school, etc., etc.
The judge is now having second thoughts. He didn’t issue his order and is now going back to re-think his position. We are all optimistic he will strike down LAUSD’s ability to set medical policy for kids."
Judge leans toward denying a suit seeking to halt L.A. Unified student vaccine mandate December 8, 2021
"But Pearson said the inadequacy of remote learning “is the reason why we are here” and added that if school districts are allowed to decide what vaccines their students must take, there is nothing to stop them from making students take Adderall — used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder — to make them more focused in class or from giving pupils birth control."
LAUSD OFFICIALS SAY THEY’LL DEPORT UNVACCINATED STUDENTS TO ONE OF THE DISTRICT’S POOREST PERFORMING SCHOOLS December 9, 2021
"A large number of these students faced teacher shortages, administrative, and enrollment problems, the LA Times reported, Some students missed days or weeks of instruction, even after constant emails and phone calls. One parent’s kids had their teachers reassigned three times. Many of the teachers are actually just substitutes. Some have “received ever-shifting instructions and no guidance from administrators by phone or email.” Scott Schmerelson, a board member for the Los Angeles Board of Education, called the situation “an emergency.”
It’s hard to imagine how adding another 34,000 students to City of Angels will make that emergency anything other than a catastrophe."
Judge denies parent groups' bid for injunction against LAUSD's vax mandate
"Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff had heard arguments Wednesday, then took the case under submission before handing down his final ruling on Monday. He said the LAUSD had shown that "LAUSD's community" will be more susceptible to the coronavirus with unvaccinated students on campus.
While off-campus learning may not be ideal, it provides an alternative form of education that minimizes the threat of COVID-19 to everyone, including the unvaccinated, the judge wrote."
UK Does Not Advise Vaccines for 5-11 Year Olds, While the US Starts to Mandate Them December 24, 2021
"Can we at least acknowledge how crazy it is that one nation DOES NOT RECOMMEND something while another nation MANDATES IT to attend something as basic and necessary as grade school?"
Big Parent Rally at CA Capitol Protesting Gov Newsom's Ongoing COVID School Mandates January 4, 2022
"This legal issue was addressed at the rally. Attorney Tracy Henderson spoke directly to parents and told them that school boards, schools and parents have been misled. She said state attorneys for the California Department of Public Health, the agency issuing the COVID mandates, did not follow proper legal procedure via the Administrative Procedures Act, so the “mandates” are really not mandates, because they are non-binding. As the Globe has repeatedly noted, the CDPH is issuing “guidances;” it’s the school districts calling them “mandates......
"There were many additional speakers at the rally including Chase Coughlin and Celeste Fiehler, who introduced a 17-year old with a heart condition who was forced to leave school, because he can’t wear a mask or get the vaccine. He is on a wait-list for a heart transplant."
CA Sen. Richard Pan Says More Than 1,000 California Children Have Died from COVID-19 January 10, 2022
"The Globe contacted Sen. Pan’s office on Friday to inquire about his statement that 1,000 children (under age 18) have died from COVID. Were these 1,000 in California? Are these U.S. totals? His Senate article does not state which."
As LA schools backtrack on COVID vaccine, dozens more district push to mandate it January 19, 2022
"Neither the California Department of Education nor any other agency is keeping track of all individual district policies. CalMatters contacted all 940 public school districts to create the first living database recording the state patchwork of COVID-19 vaccination requirements for schools.
County education offices must follow local health guidelines, which the state Department of Public Health ultimately oversees, state education department information officer Scott Roark wrote in an email to CalMatters.
But public health officials aren’t tracking this information either. The California Department of Public Health “does not maintain official records about the actions of local school districts for which there is no formal requirement to report to the state,” the office of communications said in an email to CalMatters.
“I am surprised that there is no central body that regulates school districts,” said Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, a professor of pediatrics and of epidemiology at Stanford University. “This clearly isn’t good public health policy.”"
California kids 12 and older could receive COVID-19 vaccine without parent's OK January 20, 2022
"Under a bill introduced Thursday by a California lawmaker, Chaglasian and other children in the state would be allowed to make their own vaccination decisions. Senate Bill 866 by Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) would permit children 12 and older to be vaccinated, including against COVID-19, without a parent’s consent or knowledge."
Will California put vaccine mandates into law? Legislators look to tighten rules Sacramento Bee January 21, 2022
"Democrats for months have said they want to increase the state’s COVID-19 vaccination rates, especially among schoolchildren. But given the quickly changing nature of the virus and new information about how variants interact with vaccines, writing legislation is a complicated task."
All California schoolchildren must be vaccinated against COVID-19 under new bill January 24, 2022
"Under the bill, the California Department of Public Health could mandate vaccines in the future without requiring the state to offer personal belief exemptions, a move that would make it easier to add COVID-19 boosters or other immunizations for students without a lengthy legislative process."
A Big Week for Key Bills CalMatters January 25, 2022
"And, if the bills pass the Legislature, they could put Gov. Gavin Newsom in a tough spot. Although the governor has defended his first-in-the-nation vaccine mandates, he’s also taken pains to emphasize that the personal belief exemption for students leaves “plenty of latitude for families to make decisions.”
Catherine Flores Martin, executive director of the California Immunization Coalition: “He’s trying to be comforting and non-confrontational, but it sends a message that if you don’t want to get the vaccine, don’t get it. Gov. Newsom struggles with this — he’s trying to have it both ways.”"
California School District Treats COVID Exposed Children Like Lepers; Uses Isolation Room With No Teacher, Supervision Or Instruction January 26, 2022
"On Monday, her child was pulled out of class with several others because they were in close contact with someone who had tested positive in their classroom. The school sat the kids on a planter box while they contacted the parents, and then identified which children were vaccinated or not. The vaccinated children were allowed to return to their classrooms, even with the risk that they could be positive or carrying the virus. The unvaccinated students were told they had to leave campus and could not come back for five days to quarantine, until they showed a negative COVID test.
Christy and her husband decided that this was not okay. He refused to pick her up. The school proceeded to put their daughter in a small isolation room by herself with no teacher, supervision or instruction. Finally, Christy’s husband decided that he wasn’t going to leave her there and picked her up.
Overnight, they secured an attorney who picked up the case and gave the Gravitts guidance on their rights. They were now determined to send their daughter back to school, knowing that what the school did, under the instructions of the district, was illegal and discriminatory."
Sacramento City Unified School District pushes COVID-19 vaccine deadline back a month January 26, 2022
"The Sacramento City Unified School District confirmed Wednesday it was pushing back its COVID-19 vaccine deadline by a month after only about half its students reported their vaccination status.
The district said that only about 55% of eligible students have reported their vaccination status as of Wednesday. Thousands have also not registered for testing, the district said."
Editorial: Get more kids vaccinated against COVID, yes, but two bills need more work LA Times January 27, 2022
"The goal is the right one: Increase vaccination of children. But both of these bills need more time on the drawing board to strike the right balance."
The battle over vaccine rules for kids reignites in California January 27, 2022
"Christina Hildebrand, head of the opposition group A Voice for Choice Advocacy that has fought to keep exemptions to vaccine mandates since 2015, said she’s been gearing up for this battle for months. “This is premature,” Hildebrand said about the proposed mandate. “We don’t know where COVID is going to go, it changes week by week.”
She would prefer to see the Newsom administration’s mandate stand because it’s flexible, allows parents to use personal belief exemptions and can be changed by the state Department of Public Health. If Pan’s bill advances, her organization will push for an amendment to allow a religious exemption for students, to mirror exemptions being given to school staff and other workers."
We want all COVID restrictions in schools lifted. No, that's not radical. SF Gate February 1, 2022
"Early childhood is arguably the most critical time for language and social-emotional development, and thus the World Health Organizationdiscourages the use of masks for children under the age of 6 “based on the safety and overall interests of the child.” The detrimental consequences of masks for learning and development should not be ignored, especially when the possible benefit from masks is nebulous and does not accrue to the children themselves. This detrimental impact is magnified for some of our most vulnerable children. There are more than 1 million English language learners in California public schools whose education is disproportionately impacted by face masks, given the importance of lip reading and relying on facial expressions when learning a second language. There are over 100,000 students with speech and learning challenges that are placed at additional disadvantage because of mask use.
We are also calling for an end to asymptomatic testing and contact tracing in our children’s schools. As we enter the endemic phase of COVID-19, interminable contact tracing is futile and a poor use of scarce resources."
We're pro-vaccine but can't support California lawmaker's school COVID vaccine mandate SF Gate February 8, 2022
"Because Pan’s bill would only provide slight and fleeting protection against transmission in schools — at the potential cost of banishing hundreds of thousands of kids from in-person learning — we cannot support it."
LAUSD is prepping for thousands of unvaccinated students by ramping up online school LA Times February 9, 2022
"Anticipating that thousands of Los Angeles Unified students still may not be vaccinated this fall, the Board of Education has taken the first steps toward a major expansion of remote learning, including creating as many as six new online schools that could enroll up to 15,000 students."
Failing to enforce California's COVID-19 vaccine mandate may put school districts in financial peril EdSource February 9, 2022
"“Generally speaking, if you intentionally break the law you can’t count on insurance to cover the consequences,” said Cindy Wilkerson, executive director of Schools Insurance Group, a joint-powers authority that insures 30 school districts in Northern California. “We aren’t unique in this. The coverage exclusion is probably in every coverage document or insurance policy.”
Almost all school districts in California are part of a joint powers authority that allows a group of districts to pool their risk and insure themselves. Each board is made up of representatives from member school districts. Many of these groups have sent letters to districts warning that snubbing state mandates, including those requiring masking and vaccines, could leave those districts without coverage if someone gets ill and files a lawsuit.
In a letter to members last year, Wilkerson advised school officials that if they don’t follow state, federal or local mandates, districts would likely have to pay their own attorney fees and any possible judgments that occur as a result of a lawsuit.
Wilkerson recommends that districts collaborate with their legal counsel and local public health officials to decide how they can remain in compliance with California Department of Public Health guidance. She hasn’t been informed that any of the districts covered by the Schools Insurance Group intend to ignore the vaccine mandate."
Sacramento City Unified School District unable to impose student COVID-19 vaccine mandate days ahead of deadline February 19, 2022
"An email to parents from the district obtained by KCRA 3 says in-person learning will continue "until further notice" after the district said it didn't have enough resources to meet its mandate."
CA Lawmakers Targeting Kids and Working Classes for Mandatory COVID Vaccines February 22, 2022
"Why are California’s lawmakers and Gov. Newsom pushing more COVID vaccines when COVID cases and hospitalizations are dramatically down, and the Omicron variant is dissipating? Why when other states and countries are ending all COVID restrictions and getting back to normal? And why when doctors report children are not COVID-19 super spreaders, according to study after study?"
California legislators propose new slate of COVID-19 vaccine laws CalMatters March 2, 2022
"Taken together, the adoption of these bills would make California an outlier among states — and give it the country’s strictest COVID-19 regulations. Other states are considering various mandates and legislation related to COVID-19, but none appear to have the coordination of this effort, steered by some of the most powerful legislators in Sacramento. "
Healthy Children Don't Need Covid Vaccines Wall Street Journal March 20, 2022
"Florida is right. Especially for kids under 12, the risks are trivial. And most have natural antibodies."
Student vaccine mandates fall like dominoes CalMatters April 15, 2022
"But keeping the mandate in place — when just 33.9% of children ages 5-11 and 66.4% of kids 12-17 are fully vaccinated, according to state data — could be tantamount to blocking tens of thousands of students from attending campus and forcing them back into online learning. Black and Latino kids, who have lower vaccination rates than white and Asian children, would be disproportionately impacted."
Editorial: California's schools don't need a vaccine mandate--at least, not right now LA Times April 25, 2022
"And right now, the bigger threat to kids’ well-being is chronic absenteeism, which harms their emotional health and academic progress. The best thing for most students is to be in school and in a physical classroom; that’s especially true for students who depend on school for nutritious meals, physical activity and at least some counseling. A vaccine mandate could drive many of them away from in-person learning."
Los Angeles Unified Makes a Recommendation to Align with the State of California on COVID-19 Vaccinations for Students 12 and Older April 28, 2022
"Los Angeles Unified Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho announced today that after consultation with health experts and its medical director, the District will make a recommendation to align with the state of California’s student requirement for COVID-19 vaccinations delaying the effective date to no sooner than July 1, 2023. "
Fact check: Could sixth-graders get vaccines without parents’ consent under this California plan? Sacramento Bee May 6, 2022
"Now, just one major vaccine bill remains. The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday approved Senate Bill 866 from Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco. Wiener’s measure would let children and teens 12 and older get all vaccines approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) without needing parental consent."
L.A. school board delays student COVID-19 vaccine mandate without any discussion LA Times May 10, 2022
"Carvalho based his request for the delay — until at least July 1, 2023 — on the school system’s current vaccination rate among older students and what he described as the low transmission rates in schools. Carvalho said he also consulted with experts who have been working with the nation’s second-largest school system."
Major vaccine bills are dying in the California Legislature. Here's why SF Chronicle May 13, 2022
"But some opponents of the vaccine mandate bills proposed this year haven’t come from the anti-vaccine movement. The opposition has included more mainstream groups, who say the bills were just impractical.
Megan Bacigalupi, an Oakland mother and executive director of CA Parent Power, an education advocacy group, said many parents have questioned the necessity of vaccine mandates because either their children already had COVID and recovered or they’ve been vaccinated themselves and still got infected. She said the rapid spread of the omicron variant, which infected countless vaccinated people, killed the notion that vaccines could stop transmission.
“The appetite for this is just not where we were even six months ago,” she said. “Many of us have been trying to normalize this idea that you can be pro-vaccine but anti-mandate.”"
LAUSD Pushes to Quietly Terminate Unvaccinated Virtual Teachers May 17, 2022
"Union teachers held a protest on Monday morning, after receiving an e-mail on Friday, May 13th advising them to get vaccinated or face termination. The group of teachers, who already had previous exemptions granted by the school district, were abruptly taken out of their classroom for being deemed “too dangerous” to be around school-aged children and were then instructed to teach virtually for LAUSD, as accommodation for their exemption."
Student COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate Update San Diego Unified School District May 24, 2022
"As new variants come into existence, the original vaccines have lost a significant margin of effectiveness to prevent new infections after the first two months."
San Diego Unified Backs Off Vaccine Mandate: Cites Effectiveness Voice of San Diego May 25, 2022
"The district is also a bit less impressed with the vaccines.
“As new variants come into existence, the original vaccines have lost a significant margin of effectiveness to prevent new infections after the first two months,” they wrote. "
Granada Hills Charter High bars unvaccinated students from in-person graduation Los Angeles Daily News May 26, 2022
"Having attended Granada Hills Charter High School for four years, after months of remote learning due to COVID-19 school closures, Andrew Luna was finally looking forward to a more normal senior year to close out high school.
But last fall the school informed families that beginning in the second semester, students 12 and older, with few exceptions, would not be allowed on campus if they didn’t get vaccinated against the coronavirus. For Luna and other unvaccinated students, that meant transferring to the school’s online independent study program.
Now, in the final days of school, it means not being allowed at the culmination ceremony for eighth graders, or for seniors like Luna the in-person June 2 graduation, Senior Awards Night and other year-end events.
“I feel like I’ve earned these events, like Grad Night, prom,” said 18-year-old Luna, who recently launched a podcast in which he interviews students in the same boat. “I did all four years at this school. For them to take (these events) from me at my final moment, of course it’s upsetting.”"
Unvaccinated students not allowed to walk at Granada Hills high school graduation CBS News May 27, 2022
"Unvaccinated students at Granada Hills Charter High School will have to watch their classmates walk across the stage from afar after the school prohibited them from attending the graduation ceremony.
"I felt abandoned by the school I worked so hard for," said senior Andrew Luna. "It's just heartbreaking."
After working hard and getting through remote learning during the height of the pandemic, 18-year-old Luna thought he would be able to enjoy the rest of his senior year back at Granada Hills Charter High School. However, after winter break, he was notified that he wouldn't be allowed to come back if he wasn't vaccinated against COVID.
He and other unvaccinated students were put into the school's online independent study program, barring them from any clubs and yearbook team activities.
"Besides that, it was just the events on school campus, relationships with friends and just a lot I had to give up, essentially," Luna said. .........
"The high school senior said even though it's too late for him to graduate with the rest of his class this year, he'll continue to speak out.
"Us seniors, we might be shot, but the next grade, the next grade after that, they'll get to be on campus and that's what we're fighting for, the future essentially," Luna said."
Telemundo Familias en Granada Hills no podrán celebrar graduaciones sin estar vacunados contra COVID-19 May 28, 2022
COVID-19 rules are changing in California schools: What parents should expect when class returns Sacramento Bee June 13, 2022
"Those subvariants are still infecting school children, and any kind of surge could trigger more mask mandates or other protocols to prevent the spread of COVID-19 at schools. Vaccine clinics are popping up at schools, too, to encourage families to vaccinate their school-aged children. But overall, if there are no changes in the severity of COVID-19, parents can expect the same COVID policies that schools had in place at the end of the 2021-2022 school year: exposure notices, on campus vaccine clinics and very little physical distancing on campus."
California lawmaker scraps plan for preteen vaccine consent June 16, 2022
"Catie Stewart, spokesperson for the bill’s author, Democratic Sen. Scott Wiener, said supporters of the measure were close to having enough votes in the Assembly, but “it wasn’t a slam dunk.”.....
Stewart acknowledged that a lot of members of the Assembly had concerns with the lower age, and “we want to work with people to get this across the finish line.”"
California lawmaker raises minimum age on bill for child vaccines without parental vaccines Sacramento Bee June 17, 2022
"Following the floor session, Wiener said that he amended the bill after discussions with assemblymembers.
“I think there’s a high comfort level with that age,” he said. “I think you have to listen to your colleagues.”"
'The emergency phase of COVID-19 is over': Doctors' group urges Biden administration to revise guidelines for children June 21, 2022
"Tuesday’s letter asks the CDC to do away with mass testing of children at venues like schools and camps in favor of a test-to-treat approach that seeks to identify children who may be especially vulnerable to COVID-19 and to make sure that, if those children fall ill, they are quickly treated with effective therapeutics that have become available in recent months.
Urgency of Normal also argues that the CDC should do away with its vaccination recommendation in the hope that a more neutral federal guidance would cause vaccine mandates to fall away."
Urgency of Normal Open Letter to Dr. Jha and Dr. Walensky June 22, 2022
Why the Rush for Toddler Vaccines Wall Street Journal July 4, 2022
"“The United States is now the first country in the world to offer safe and effective Covid-19 vaccines for children as young as 6 months old.”
In fact, we don’t know if the vaccines are safe and effective. The rushed FDA action was based on extremely weak evidence. It’s one thing to show regulatory flexibility during an emergency. But for children, Covid isn’t an emergency."
The CDC Is Breaking Trust in Childhood Vaccination Tablet July 5, 2022
"Clinical trial data expert and Tablet contributor Dr. Vinay Prasad has pointed out many times that “expedited pathways do not always benefit people, but they always benefit companies.” This might help explain why no other country in the world has started vaccinating infants against COVID, and only a handful have vaccinated toddlers. (In addition to the United States, the only countries vaccinating 2- to 3-year-olds against COVID right now are Cuba, China, Argentina, Bahrain, Venezuela, Colombia, Hong Kong, and Chile, none of which are using mRNA vaccines.) It is perhaps especially damning that no other country collaborated with the United States on the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine trials for infants and toddlers, which could have quickly enabled enough trial participation to study effects of the vaccines against severe disease, as was done in the RotaTeq trial. Tellingly, the Danish minister of health recently claimed that it was a “mistake” to vaccinate children under 16 against COVID at all, saying, “we’ve gotten smarter and would not recommend the same today.”"
LAUSD parents can now file for damages from the illegal COVID vaccine mandates July 5, 2022
"6. Parents whose children were injured, either by having to have their child vaccinated (regardless of whether your child has a vaccine injury or not) or whose child was shifted into independent study, now have an opportunity to sue for monetary damages.
If you are in the last category, please register here and I’ll let you know how you can join with other parents to preserve your rights and to potentially recover monetary damages."
Judge: Los Angeles Unified can’t make kids get COVID shots — how will this affect the Bay Area? The Mercury News July 6, 2022
"For the second time, a California judge has ruled that the state — not individual school districts — has the authority to require students get the COVID-19 vaccine to attend classes on campus, putting in doubt similar mandates in the Bay Area that have been delayed.
Tuesday’s ruling on the Los Angeles Unified School District’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate punts the question to state leaders whether they will follow through with their now-stalled proposal to make the Golden State the first in the country to require the vaccination for school kids."
Judge strikes down paused LAUSD student vaccine mandate LA Times July 6, 2022
"“Judge Beckloff’s ruling confirms that individual school districts do not have the authority to impose local vaccination requirements in excess of statewide requirements,” said Arie L. Spangler, a member of the legal team that pursued the case. “We are very pleased with the ruling, as it ensures that no child will be forced out of the classroom due to their COVID-19 vaccination status.”"
Covid Vaccine Mandates Heighten School Inequity Wall Street Journal August 8, 2022
"If school began today and the mandates were strictly enforced, at least two-thirds of black adolescents in Washington and almost half of all children in New Orleans wouldn’t be allowed in the classroom."
Editorial: Vaccines are safe. So why shouldn’t teens be able to get them on their own? LA Times August 19, 2022
"State law allows minors ages 12 and older to consent to various reproductive and preventive health treatments, including abortions, vaccines for HPV and other sexually transmitted diseases and mental healthcare. But they are not allowed to consent to virtually all other vaccines, including for COVID-19, putting them at personal risk and adding another barrier to community disease prevention.
Senate Bill 866 would change that by allowing minors 15 and older to get a vaccine that has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention without needing consent of a parent or guardian."
Vaccinations: Easiest, fastest, most reliable way to save lives August 25, 2022
"Unfortunately, some parents are misled by extremist disinformation, and may deny their teens the protections that vaccines provide. It is important that older teens are afforded the opportunity to take a more proactive role in their own health care and future and be able to make their own decisions about being vaccinated."
Yes, California teens like me should be able to get vaccinated without our parents' consent August 27, 2022
"I vividly remember how incredibly thrilled and relieved my friends and I were when the COVID vaccine came out last summer for our age group. We thought life would soon return to normal and that science would prevail over widespread disinformation. But a year has passed, and over a million teens across the state are still not vaccinated against COVID — largely because of parental hesitancy. These unvaccinated teens carry fear for their own health but also the emotional burden of knowing they are likely contributing to yet another roller coaster of variants."
Sen. Wiener Pulls Bill to allow 12-Year Olds Get Vaccine Without Parental Consent August 31, 2022
"Why are we even having this discussion? we asked in June. Passing laws interfering with parental rights is unauthorized intervention in a child’s healthcare, and is no business of state lawmakers. There is nothing more insidious than the government wheedling its way in between parents and their children."
California won’t expand teen vaccines without parental OK August 31, 2022
"A Voice for Choice Advocacy said minors may not know their full medical history and the potential risks. And if they don’t tell their parents that they obtained the vaccine on their own, the group said parents may not know what’s wrong if their child has an adverse reaction."
COVID-19: Backers pull bill that would let California teens get vaccinated without parents’ OK August 31, 2022
"“SB 866 was an anti-parent bill that would have allowed minors to make potentially consequential medical decisions without their parents’ consent or knowledge,” said Jonathan Zachreson, a Roseville parent leader who founded the Reopen California Schools social media group and is running for a school board seat. “Its defeat is a win for parental rights and common sense.”"
Vaccines for teens without parental consent? Not this year, as bill is pulled September 1, 2022
"Laura Powell, a Contra Costa parent who opposed the legislation, tweeted: “#SB866 opponents are not a minority, and we are not anti-vaxxers, but it’s nice that he acknowledges that we succeeded in stopping a bad law, with nothing more than our voices.”
She said she is COVID-19 vaccinated and boosted but believes the state should not interfere with family medical decisions.
“This is part of a trend I see where it feels like the government is stepping into things that should be parental choice,” she said in an interview. “I got vaccinated myself. I don’t think my younger kids need to get (COVID) vaccinated. The other vaccines are already required for school, they have a long track record and the risks and benefits are known for those. I don’t spend a lot of time worried about those. We are less certain about the COVID vaccine.”"
Thousands without childhood vaccinations unable to return to school September 1, 2022
"Growing vaccine hesitancy since the Covid-19 pandemic began may be another reason for the decline in the state’s vaccination rate.
“Looking at the nationwide sentiment when it comes to vaccinations, there appears to be a slight uptick in vaccine hesitancy,” Dang said. “Some of the hesitancy from the Covid vaccine is bleeding over to the other vaccinations.”
Martin agrees: “I think there are some parents who may have given it a second thought, when they had not in the past.”"
The CDC, ACIP and COVID-19 Vaccine for Children October 21, 2022
"Approval by ACIP and a recommendation by CDC does not automatically make the Covid-19 shots mandatory for K-12 school children to attend school in California. Instead, either the Legislature or the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) would have to add it to the mandatory immunizations that are required for in-person schooling.
If the CDPH were to add the Covid-19 vaccine to the mandatory immunization schedule under California Health & Safety Code section 120335(b), schools would be required to accept both medical and personal belief exemptions to this new immunization requirement under Health & Safety Code section 120338.
CDPH would also have to follow the California Administrative Procedure Act’s (“APA”) rule-making procedures for making a new rule.
Unfortunately, Governor Newsom already announced on October 1, 2021 that he has already “directed” the CDPH to add the Covid-19 shot to the childhood immunization schedule, following the necessary procedures under the Health & Safety Code and the APA, and that this new requirement, assuming it passes this process, could add a Covid-19 requirement as early as July 2023. "
CDC paves way for California to require school COVID vaccines — but lawmakers have given up for now October 26, 2022
"In April, lacking the votes needed to pass the bill, Pan pulled it and said the vaccine needed to be more accessible to families and vaccination rates needed to be higher before a mandate could be successful. The same day, the Department of Public Health postponed to July 2023 its plan to require students get the COVID-19 vaccine.
On Monday, Pan said he does not expect the Legislature to respond any differently than it did last year to the idea of a mandate. Pan won’t be leading the effort if there is one, as he is termed out in November."
Why is the state giving your health data to political consultants? Los Angeles Daily News November 27, 2022
"But the California Department of Public Health has confirmed that the state collected the confidential health data, contact information and demographic characteristics of everyone who received a vaccine and “shares” that data with a political consulting firm that happens to be in the business of contacting Californians to organize and mobilize coalitions to “shape policy outcomes” for the firm’s paying clients.
Did you know that? Now you do."
COVID-19 vaccine mandate for California schools face uncertainty Victorville Daily Press January 26, 2023
"That’s why Newsom laid out a new plan last October to end California’s COVID-based State of Emergency on Feb. 28, the agency continued. This would apparently phase out special powers the governor would need to impose a vaccine mandate without standard legislative approval.
“As such, CDPH is not currently exploring emergency rulemaking to add COVID-19 vaccinations to the list of required school vaccinations,” the agency stated. “Any changes to required K-12 immunizations are properly addressed through the legislative process.”
When asked to clarify if this means the state’s outlook for a COVID-vaccine mandate on students has changed since April 2022 ― in that Newsom’s “pending” mandate is now off the table, leaving the standard lawmaking process as the only future path for such a mandate ― CDPH responded:
“That is correct, at this time, any changes to required K-12 immunizations will be addressed through the legislative process.”"
California ends plans for kids’ Covid vaccine mandate EdSource February 1, 2023
"The California Department of Public Health hasn’t made an announcement, but officials told EdSource that the end of the state’s Covid-19 state of emergency on Feb. 28 effectively ends its current plan to add Covid-19 vaccinations to the list of 10 vaccinations children are required to have to attend school in person......"
"The statement went on to say that any changes to required K-12 immunizations are properly addressed through the legislative process. There are no bills mandating school vaccinations currently pending in the Legislature."
CDPH Comments that COVID-19 Vaccine Requirement for K-12 students will NOT go into Effect in July 2023, but is it Really Over? February 2, 2023
"News is just news and holds no legal weight, so AVFCA has requested an official statement from CDPH confirming that they will not be moving forward with any COVID-19 vaccine requirements for K-12 school children. Our organization will also be closely monitoring bills in the legislature as they are authored and put across the desk, and AVFCA will keep our ear to the ground in the Capitol to get any advance information on any proposed bills."
California won’t require COVID vaccine to attend schools AP February 3, 2023
"The announcement was welcome news for Jonathan Zachreson, a father of three who lives in Roseville. Zachreson founded the group Reopen California Schools to oppose many of the state’s coronavirus policies. His activism led to him being elected to the Roseville City School District board in November.
“This is long overdue. ... A lot of families have been stressed from this decision and worried about it for quite some time,” he said. “I wish CDPH would make a bigger statement publicly or Newsom would make a public statement ... to let families know and school districts know that this is no longer going to be an issue for them.”"
California won't require COVID vaccine to attend schools February 6, 2023
"Kevin Gordon, a lobbyist representing most of the state's school districts, said he did not think the policy change was the result of political pressure by Republicans, but instead a reflection of the virus's slowing transmission rates.
"The public's appetite for these kinds of mandates is definitely not what it used to be," he said. "
School districts can’t require COVID vaccines, California Supreme Court affirms SF Chronicle February 22, 2023
"The district did not appeal, but two charter schools asked the state Supreme Court to “depublish” the ruling so it would not be binding on any other courts. They were joined by former state Sen. Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, who sponsored legislation last year that would have required children to be vaccinated in order to attend school. Pan, who has also worked as a pediatrician, dropped his bill when he could not gain majority support.
On Wednesday, the state’s high court said it had decided not to review the ruling and instead left it as a precedent binding on trial courts statewide.
Other school districts that have proposed vaccine mandates include Oakland and Los Angeles, which both planned them to take effect last year but backed off while facing legal challenges. The Piedmont Unified School District in the East Bay required students 12 and over to show proof of vaccinations by mid-November 2021, but withdrew its order two months later after a judge halted enforcement in response to an anti-vaccine group’s lawsuit.
The San Diego lawsuit was filed by the nonprofit Let Them Choose, an offshoot of the anti-mask group Let Them Breathe"...
LAUSD: ‘Violating Employee Rights and Misleading the Courts’ April 26, 2023
"“We discovered that LAUSD had not been forthright with the District Court during the first case when it claimed there ‘is no mandate.’”
“According to depositions taken during the course of the second case, LAUSD Chief Human Resource Officer Ileana Davalos stated that ‘they were drafting a mandate in the first half of July 2021,’ demonstrating that LAUSD had not been telling the truth about the mandates with the court in the first case.”
Manookian said the mandate was a violation of privacy under the due process clause of the Constitution, and it was also “arbitrary” because the CDC had already admitted that the shots do not stop transmission of COVID-19. “So it’s a medicine or a theraputic, and not a vaccine,” she said.
Teachers lost their jobs for refusing the experimental vaccine, and some were relegated to online teaching and left in limbo, Manookian said. Teachers were told their religious beliefs didn’t matter, or their medical needs didn’t matter. “Some have had adverse reactions to other shots. They’ve been denied the the ability to protect themselves and their religious beliefs. They’ve been fired for doing so, or were just cast aside.”
Manookian said there is decades of law to support the lawsuit and enforce it. And because the CDC admitted that the shots are not a vaccine but a therapeutic, everyone has a right to refuse. Yet many LAUSD teachers and staff succumbed and got the shot just to stay employed."
NEW YORK ‘Huge’ Victory: New York Supreme Court Reinstates 10 Teachers Fired for Refusing COVID Vaccine September 7, 2023
"However, in his 22-page ruling, Judge Porzio said there was “no rational basis for the seemingly blanket denial of any religious exemption to all classroom teachers” provided by the respondents.
He found the lack of timely explanation provided to each teacher made the denials “arbitrary and capricious,” and the city’s claim that accommodating classroom teachers’ exemption requests would place undue hardship on the city was also “arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable.”
“This court sees no rational basis for not allowing unvaccinated classroom teachers in amongst an admitted population of primarily unvaccinated students,” he wrote.
On those bases, he granted relief to the 10 unvaccinated plaintiffs who completed all the steps in the administrative process for requesting exemption and appealed the city and DOE’s decision."
Judges Push Back HARD On Tyrannical Injection Mandates September 19, 2023
"So much truth comes out in this exchange. It was truly remarkable and extremely refreshing to see people in judicial authority taking such a bold stance against these mandates. Kudos to these Judges for speaking so authoritatively to someone who has obviously been so used to having the cloak of protection wrapped around them that the vaccine-cult has enjoyed for years now. It’s time to wake up, people. To hear a Judge say plainly to the pro-mandate crowd that he is “shocked” by the fact that this policy is still in place is a huge step in the right direction."
VERMONT Judge finds school has immunity in unauthorized vaccination of 6-year-old January 4, 2023
"In a statement to the Reformer, the Vermont Attorney General’s Office said, “Under federal law, claims can only be brought based on the administration of a pandemic countermeasure if willful misconduct caused a death or serious physical injury, which did not happen here. The Court agreed with the State’s analysis of federal law and appropriately dismissed the case.”"
Walgreens COVID Vaccination Data (see page 3)
Urgency of Normal #UrgencyofNormal An Open Call to Restore Normalcy for U.S. Children
Legislators Form Vaccine Work Group to Boost Public Health Policies January 19, 2022
Chaffey Joint Union High School District Survey Results December 2021 Students, Parents and Staff
Petition for Medical Professionals Call by Medical Professionals to Update Los Angeles Pandemic Policy
Witchhunt against doctors writing medication exemptions for vaccines in California
California disciplining doctors over questionable medical exemptions for vaccines December 8, 2021
"If the department rejects five or more exemptions by a single doctor, the agency must flag the physician to either the Medical Board of California or the Osteopathic Medical Board of California, both of which license and discipline physicians. By Oct. 5, doctors had written 4,149 medical exemptions this year, and the department rejected 182 of them. The Department of Public Health said it has also reviewed medical exemptions written by 165 physicians who’ve filed five or more in 2021. As of Dec. 1, “at least” seven physicians have had “at least” five medical exemptions invalidated in 2021 and were reported to the appropriate board."
MONKEYPOX MPX
5 best practices as schools brace for monkeypox August 4, 2022
"The World Health Organization on July 23 declared monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern, making it something school nurses should be monitoring, said Linda Mendonca, president of the National Association of School Nurses."
In Person School Closures Articles
Variability in school closure decisions in response to 2009 H1N1: a qualitative systems improvement analysis February 1, 2011
"Because school closure decisions require local public health concerns to be balanced with broader societal concerns, analysis of the 2009 H1N1 pandemic suggests three issues public health and school officials should consider in planning for and making school closure decisions in the future. First, the goal of school closing should be made clear and specific measures should be tailored to the goal and modified over time as evolving knowledge requires. Second, legal and practical authority to close schools should be clarified in advance, as part of planning and preparedness efforts. Finally, decision-makers should expect uncertainty and maintain situational awareness, be flexible in policies and procedures, and act with humility."
Coronavirus pandemic: We were caught unprepared. It is too late for shutdowns to save us Dr. Joseph A. Ladapo USA TODAY March 24, 2020
"Can you imagine a United States in which children are forced to forgo proper schooling, unemployment and poverty decimate millions more lives, and our economy is strangled into a persistent depression? And all for a virus that, when all is said and done, most people will recover from — even the elderly (death rates are highest in adults older than 80, at 10-20%)? The lockdown cost will be staggering — far more costly than COVID-19’s horrific wrath. This terrible trade-off is the path upon which we’ve set ourselves because our public health system was unprepared for a pandemic."
Schools Aren't Super-spreaders
"Our data on almost 200,000 kids in 47 states from the last two weeks of September revealed an infection rate of 0.13 percent among students and 0.24 percent among staff. That’s about 1.3 infections over two weeks in a school of 1,000 kids, or 2.2 infections over two weeks in a group of 1,000 staff. Even in high-risk areas of the country, the student rates were well under half a percent. "
Reopen the schools or a generation will bear the mental health scars
"Many children and their families are under significant pressure in their family environments during lockdown and we know that access to health and social care has dropped. Schools are a vital part of the provision of safeguarding children and families, after all around 20% of social service referrals come from schools. Then there is their mental health: 1 in 8 children has a mental health disorder. Rates are higher where families are struggling. A quarter of of young women aged 17-19 have a mental health disorder, and half of them have attempted suicide of self-harm. My colleagues and I have been seeing mental health crisis presentations linked to the effects of lock-down."
Stand Up for your Rights says Bio-Statistician Knut Wittkowski
"One thing we definitely need to do, and that would be safe and effective, is opening schools. Let the children spread the virus among themselves, which is a necessity to get herd immunity. That was probably one of the most destructive actions the government has done. We should focus on the elderly and separating them from the population where the virus is circulating. We should not prevent the virus from circulating among school children, which is the fastest way to create herd immunity"
Parents, Students Protest For Reopening Schools in Los Angeles August 19, 2020
"Members of the Parent Union, who describe themselves as “Parents united to guarantee an outstanding public education for every child”, demanded that Los Angeles area public schools should reopen, that Governor Gavin Newsom should not decide on which schools should or should not open, and that parents should be given money for education by the state as their taxes are no longer going towards an in-school system they were promised."
Social Isolation Is Damaging an Entire Generation of Kids
"If they were play-deprived prior to the pandemic, then many children may be more play-deprived now, as they have been cut-off from peers for nearly six months. Gray has documented the correlation between the decline in play and the rise in childhood and adolescent mental health disorders. This is something that is deeply concerning now as children, and especially adolescents, are even more distanced from their peers."
How At Risk Are Your Children From Coronavirus?
"The fact remains that most of the available evidence so far points to the fact that children are not spreading coronavirus or suffering from it. Closing schools as the government deemed unnecessary initially was an emotional rather than a scientific response."
What Schools Can Learn From Child Care Centers that Stayed Open During Lockdowns
"Throughout the pandemic, many child care centers have stayed open for the children of front-line workers — everyone from doctors to grocery store clerks. YMCA of the USA and New York City's Department of Education have been caring for, collectively, tens of thousands of children since March, and both tell NPR they have no reports of coronavirus clusters or outbreaks."
The Case to Open School and Sports
"But broad school closures — and sports cancellations — cannot continue. The known social, educational, economic, and mental health consequences are simply too dire to keep schools closed this fall.
So open the schools. Let the kids play. The data does not suggest it, it compels it."
U.S. Pediatricians Call for In-Person School This Fall
"AAP argues that based on the nation's experience this spring, remote learning is likely to result in severe learning loss and increased social isolation. Social isolation, in turn, can breed serious social, emotional and health issues: "child and adolescent physical or sexual abuse, substance use, depression, and suicidal ideation." Furthermore, these impacts will be visited more severely on Black and brown children, as well as low-income children and those with learning disabilities."
Kids Lives Matter: Stop the national coronavirus child abuse
"Overall, we need to ask ourselves, are we willing to trigger an inevitable mental health crisis, not to mention an academic catastrophe, upon our kids so long as the risk of the virus is anything above absolute zero? If so, what else do we refrain from doing in life based on such a low threshold of risk? Over 4,000 children die every year from car accidents, but we never advocate for remote learning in order to mitigate the risk of car fatalities by keeping children off the roads. Close to one thousand children died of drowning in 2016, yet nobody is clamoring for new draconian restrictions on swimming pools this summer. According to the CDC, there have been just 24 deaths among children 5-17. It’s almost certain that they all had serious underlying conditions. Obviously, immunocompromised children can be accommodated without shutting down every school.
There comes a point where protection of children crosses over from an act of love to an act of abuse. We have long since reached that tipping point."
Reopening schools in Denmark did not worsen outbreak, data shows
"Sending children back to schools and day care centres in Denmark, the first country in Europe to do so, did not lead to an increase in coronavirus infections, according to official data, confirming similar findings from Finland on Thursday."
Millions of kids around the world adjust to school in the coronavirus era
"So far, CBS News correspondent Holly Williams reports the reopening of schools in 22 European countries has not brought any major spikes in infections, though there have been a few hiccups, and some have only been open for a couple weeks."
German Study Shows Low Coronavirus Infection Rate in Schools
""Children may even act as a brake on infection," Berner told a news conference, saying infections in schools had not led to an outbreak, while the spread of the virus within households was also less dynamic than previously thought."
German researchers argue children may act as a 'brake' on coronavirus infections
"The study, the largest of its kind in Germany, tested more than 2,000 students and teachers at 13 schools in three different districts in Saxony, the only German state to reopen schools with full class sizes in May. The results showed only 12 participants tested positive for COVID-19 antibodies, five of whom had previously tested positive for the active virus, suggesting the schools did not play a major role in spreading the virus. Indeed, they may have even helped curb transmission."
"Currently, the evidence to support national closure of schools to combat COVID-19 is very weak and data from influenza outbreaks suggest that school closures could have relatively small effects on a virus with COVID-19's high transmissibility and apparent low clinical effect on school children. At the same time, these data also show that school closures can have profound economic and social consequences."
Science says: 'Open the schools'
"Low-income students are suffering the most. Many lack WIFI, computer tablets, software and other paraphernalia of the affluent. Nor are they as likely to have access to equivalent mentors at home as those with better educated parents. Robin Lake at the Center for Reinventing Public Education says that “elementary students [in urban districts] may have lost 30 percent of their reading skills.....”
"All of this borders on the absurd, when we now know that social distancing and face coverings for children are completely unnecessary.
Never have schools subjected children to such an unhealthy, uncomfortable and anti-educational environment, so science cannot precisely define the total harm it will cause. But science does tell us that risks from COVID-19 are too minimal to sacrifice the educational, social, emotional and physical well-being – to say nothing of the very health – of our young people. "
Effect of school closures on mortality from coronavirus disease 2019: old and new predictions
"We confirm that adding school and university closures to case isolation, household quarantine, and social distancing of over 70s would lead to more deaths compared with the equivalent scenario without the closures of schools and universities. "
"Research released on Wednesday shows that strict lockdowns – particularly those curbing the activities of the young – are unlikely to cut deaths in the long run and may even increase them."
Covid-19 in children and young people
"Pandemic mitigation measures that affect children’s wellbeing should only happen if evidence exists that they help because there is plenty of evidence that they do harm."
COVID testing of teachers, staff hotly debated as California schools reopen
"COVID-19 testing remains a contentious topic as public schools negotiate with teachers’ unions. In a strongly worded letter, the California Federation of Teachers demanded that state lawmakers ensure that school staff and students are regularly tested to prevent outbreaks. But some union representatives told CalMatters that some teachers are concerned about mandatory tests and their medical privacy."
France eases Covid restrictions in primary schools despite rising cases
"France’s government has decided to ease rules on pre-school and primary school closures as of Tuesday, after health advisors said children were at low risk of serious illness or of transmitting the virus that causes Covid-19."
The Students Left Behind by Remote Learning
"That afternoon, I talked with Weingarten, of the American Federation of Teachers. She asked how the first day of school was going in Baltimore and, when I told her, she offered sympathy for Shemar’s difficulties. “There are no good choices right now,” she said.
Yet many places had made a different choice. Schools were opening all across Europe, including in towns and cities whose test-positivity rates were well above those in Maryland and many other parts of the U.S. that were keeping schools closed. “Not everything should be destroyed by the health situation,” Jean-Michel Blanquer, France’s education minister, said. “We must be vigilant, but not forget the educational and social imperatives, nor deviate from our two objectives: improving the educational level of each child and reducing inequalities.”"
Florida governor says closing schools in the spring was mistake
"“In March we may not have had all the information, but in hindsight, knowing what we know now, the closure of schools was one of the biggest public health mistakes in modern American history,” DeSantis said. “And I think even Europe has said we shouldn't have closed up.”
"“So, now we're at the point where the people who advocate school closures are really the flat earthers of our day,” DeSantis said. “They're not doing it based on data. They're not doing it based on evidence. They're doing it based on either politics or emotion. And so, the harm of school closures, I think, is really considerable.”"
Child deaths tied to covid-19 remain remarkably low, months into U.S. pandemic
"As the United States’ covid-19 death toll moves relentlessly beyond 200,000, data shows that only about 100 children and teenagers have died of the disease, a fatality rate that is drawing wonder from clinicians and increasing interest among researchers hoping to understand why."
"So if kids are kept home against the will of their families, that means their education, development – and yes, health – are being sacrificed for some other social objective.
This needs to be acknowledged, even if it’s the legitimate objective of slowing spread of the virus. Because the harm being done to kids from extended school closures is well-documented.
The Brookings Institute found the learning loss in the spring was between 50 and 100 percent of a whole year’s worth of math. A study by McKinsey found that “learning loss will exacerbate existing achievement gaps by 15 to 20 percent.”
The American Academy of Pediatrics cited other risks from school closures, including “child and adolescent physical or sexual abuse, substance use, depression, and suicidal ideation,” placing kids “at considerable risk of morbidity and, in some cases, mortality.”"
Educational Impact of COVID-19 PERK
"The longer the shutdown, the greater the negative educational impact on all of our children. The direct impact of the shutdown, including declining mental health, trauma, crisis schooling, and educational barriers, cannot be underestimated, nor sustained.
High risk groups include homeless families, special education students, immigrant families, victims of abuse, and those with a history of mental health issues."
Reopening America’s Schools and Colleges During COVID-19
"Children from lower-income families have fewer opportunities to learn outside of school. Researchers have found that differences in outside of school learning opportunities contribute to the academic achievement gap between rich and poor children. The current situation is likely exacerbating this opportunity gap, particularly since poor children are less likely to have internet access at home."
"Thurmond acknowledged the safest way forward for much of the state is to keep classrooms closed for now, and pivot to some in-person instruction if and when coronavirus conditions improve."
New Report Says Schools Should Try To Reopen In Person For Elementary Students
"This fall, public school districts should prioritize full-time, in-person classes for grades K-5 and for students with special needs. That's the top-line recommendation of a new report by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine."
"Schools should prioritize reopening for grades K-5 and for students with special needs who would be best served by in-person instruction."
If COVID Fatalities Were 90.2% Lower, How Would You Feel About Schools Reopening?
"What this data does reveal, however, is that there is no more significant risk of fatality from contracting the SARS-CoV-2 virus than from contracting influenza for children & teens. It also reveals that there is no more significant risk of fatality from contracting the SARS-CoV-2 virus than there is for developing pneumonia for teens & young adults."
Stanford Doctor Scott Atlas Says The Science Shows Kids Should Go Back To School
"“There is virtually zero risk for children getting something serious or dying from this disease. Anyone who thinks schools should be closed is not talking about the children. It has nothing to do with the children’s risk,” he said. “There’s no rational reason or science to say that children transmit the disease significantly.”
New Trump coronavirus adviser makes case for opening all schools
"“The reason we can't lock down the schools is because it's well known that there are severe harms to children from locking down schools,” Atlas said. “Socialization and maturation is really a critical reason why children attend school. That's all missing if you use distance learning.”"
GOP lawyer planning to sue Gov. Newsom over Calif. school closures
"“The California Constitution has a constitutional guarantee for a basic education for all children,” Dhillon said, citing a number of conversations with teachers who say the experience with online learning has been a “disaster,” especially when it comes to students who need extra help, or those who have been unable to participate in virtual learning due to lack of access."
California using virus-closed classrooms for child care
"While most California school districts are planning only virtual instruction to start the academic year, some are offering child care programs that will bring students into the same buildings that are off-limits for classroom instruction."
Reopening Primary Schools during the Pandemic
"Children miss out on essential academic and social–emotional learning, formative relationships with peers and adults, opportunities for play, and other developmental necessities when they are kept at home. Children living in poverty, children of color, English language learners, children with diagnosed disabilities, and young children face especially severe losses"
Gov. Kristi Noem: Science Shows Not Going To School Hurts Kids Much Worse Than COVID
"We know that children thrive on routine and being in supportive, social environments. We know that the loss of human connections for many of these kids is driving increases in stress, anxiety, and depression. We know this to be true most especially for our most vulnerable students."
Politics, Not Science, Keeping Schools Closed
"The reason many schools won’t open, just like why so many places originally locked down, comes back to fear and politics. The Los Angeles’ teachers union, for example, recently came out with a list of demands before returning to teach in person. These included defunding the police, ending charter schools, “Medicare for All,” and a new wealth tax. It was not until the union came out with these demands that Newsom announced closure of nearly all schools in California -- overriding individual school districts that had planned to open."
Coronavirus shutdowns expose low-income Bay Area students’ struggle to get online
"A startling one-quarter of California students lack adequate access to the internet, according to a 2020 report by education nonprofit Common Sense. A majority of them are Black, Latinx or Native American."
"For most Americans the coronavirus is a scourge. But teachers unions seem to think it’s also an opportunity—to squeeze more money from taxpayers and put their private and public charter school competition out of business. "
‘Pupils pose little risk of spreading Covid’
"Professor Russell Viner, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and a member of the government advisory group Sage, said: “A new study that has been done in UK schools confirms there is very little evidence that the virus is transmitted in schools."
COVID-19 in children and the role of school settings in COVID-19 transmission
"Available evidence also indicates that closures of childcare and educational institutions are unlikely to be an effective single control measure for community transmission of COVID-19 and such closures would be unlikely to provide significant additional protection of children’s health, since most develop a very mild form of COVID-19, if any."
Data on child care and camps shows remarkably low risk among children
"Amid the debate over reopening schools without draconian restrictions, some of the best case studies from which to draw conclusions are child-care settings that have already been open during the pandemic. A number of child-care facilities for young children never shut down, and a goodly number of camps wound up opening later in the summer for children of all ages. New data show remarkably few cases and no reported clinical problems from those cases."
I Can’t Keep Doing This. Please Open the Schools.
"But, in keeping with how tumultuous the times are, my district just revoked that plan because of the spike in cases, and said that the first six weeks of school will be virtual. This can’t be the best decision. I know how this will go. This six weeks will be followed by another six weeks, and another. This is unsustainable. Let’s open schools safely and cautiously, but open them nevertheless."
California issues new guidance to reopen schools. What does this mean for your child?
"Newsom relaxed state rules on how schools can bring back some students to campus by grouping them into cohorts or small groups, and by prioritizing the return of students with disabilities, at-risk kids and others that could benefit from the in-class structure."
Reopening Schools Isn’t Risk-Free. Neither is Keeping Them Closed.
"The health concerns related to COVID-19 are real. But it’s important to judge the risks of reopening side-by-side with the risks of continued closure. Those who would keep schools shuttered come September need to be sure they fully appreciate the costs of doing so."
"But is digital etiquette something I want Raffi to learn at age 5? He’ll have the rest of his life to figure out the niceties of interacting with people through a screen. I can’t accept that he should get acclimated to this form of school."
"The seven studies before onset of COVID 19 about psychological impact of quarantine in children have reported isolation, social exclusion stigma and fear among the children. The most common diagnoses were acute stress disorder, adjustment disorder, grief, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Three studies during the COVID-19 pandemic reported restlessness, irritability, anxiety, clinginess and inattention with increased screen time in children during quarantine."
Should I quit my job? California parents grapple with education in a pandemic
"As the majority of schools across the state prepare to start the school year teaching remotely, parents have started investigating their options for how they can maintain their child’s education while still holding down a job."
COVID-19 and student learning in the United States: The hurt could last a lifetime
"Lower-income students are less likely to have access to high-quality remote learning or to a conducive learning environment, such as a quiet space with minimal distractions, devices they do not need to share, high-speed internet, and parental academic supervision."
Parents adapt to teaching in COVID-19 times
"“I have been a pretty strong advocate for options for families. I have also been outspoken about the fact that I want an in-person option but no one should be forced into the classroom that doesn’t want to be there, whether it be teachers or students. A lot of that stems from my concerns with distance learning in general, not how our district is doing it necessarily, but more as a concept. Studies show that it leaves behind those that need the most help, particularly those with special needs or struggling academically. Our district needs to make it happen the best they can,” said Folsom Cordova Unified School District governing board member Joshua Hoover, who is highly involved in the community."
California Public Schools Are on Fire, and the Legislature is Blocking the Exit
"Lastly, within the wider context of current events, it makes zero sense why the California Legislature is freezing growth enrollment funding for homeschool charters only. Homeschool charters are the best equipped to support parents in a distance learning landscape.
Does it really make sense to force students and their families to suffer while distance learning reigns as the only option for most families? Or ought California legislators reconsider the fact that their actions are hurting students and exacerbating the achievement gap. Wealthy white students will find microschool pods and hire teachers at $40-$60 per hour (check your local craigslist)."
"Demaio explained, “parents are already struggling with the state’s arbitrary decision to close the schools and now Governor Newsom is threatening them with penalties if they opt to hire tutors to help their children during this difficult time. As it stands AB-5 hangs over the heads of every parent in California who is considering the use of an at-home tutor or teacher. Governor Newsom needs to send a clear message to parents that hiring tutors is permitted by immediately suspending AB-5 as it relates to at-home tutors and teachers.”
"The coalition of parents, teachers and education advocates say under AB 5, parents would have to pay tutors who come to their homes as employees. Furthermore, they say most parents are unaware of the penalties violators of the law may receive."
New York’s School Chaos Is Breaking Me
"When safety and education are so profoundly privatized, when even the meager social supports America once offered to families simply disappear, panic and self-recrimination result. There are only two ways out of pandemic-driven insecurity: great personal wealth or a functioning government. Right now, many of us who’d thought we were insulated from American precarity are finding out just how frightening the world can be when you don’t have either."
British schools reopened with little covid-19 spread, new data show
"“The re-opening of schools was associated with very few covid-19 outbreaks after easing of national lockdown in England,” wrote experts from Public Health England, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and St. George’s University of London."
Gavin Newsom Will Sacrifice 750,000 Children With Special Needs to the Unions
"Unions across California have called on the state’s schools to remain closed. The largest teacher union in the state, based in Los Angeles, demanded their insane wish list of a moratorium on private schools, defunding the police, increasing taxes on the wealthy, implementing Medicare for all, and other issues be address before schools open. All over California, the unions have essentially held California’s students hostage."
California schools allowed to open for small groups with 'acute' needs under new guidance
"The state will move forward with this policy, Newsom said, out of the “recognition that there are kids that will never” be able to adjust to learning online “no matter what kind of support we provide, even if we individualize it.”
Marin County special education program prepares for in-person classes
"The Marin County Office of Education, which runs multiple small-cohort classes for Marin children who are moderately to severely disabled or cognitively impaired, said 92% of parents surveyed in May wanted their children back in class as soon as possible."
School During Coronavirus Poses Unique Issues For Students In Special Ed
"Brandy Bourgeois, of Kenner, said she received emails from her 11-year-old son’s speech therapist on how to work with him at home. “I’m not a speech therapist or an occupational therapist, either. Parents are working at our jobs,” she said. She described the emails as a “how to become a speech therapist in 20 minutes,” and said it didn’t go well."
Disability Rights California Special Education Timelines: Do they still apply during this outbreak?
"Schools are still required to comply with the timelines in the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The U.S. Department of Education and California Department of Education though have provided guidance that gives schools some flexibility with the timelines. Further, on March 17, 2020, the California Legislature passed SB 117, a law that waives several state special education timelines"
"Some English learners couldn't fully participate in distance learning due to language barriers and limited access to technology (e.g., computers and the internet). Special education services for students with disabilities—including related services like occupational, physical, or speech therapy—were particularly difficult to deliver remotely."
California teacher unions won the fight over closing schools. What else do they want?
"A decade and a half later, the association <California Teachers Association> maintains its status as one of the state’s top spenders on lobbying activity. The union spent more than $1.28 million in the last quarter alone, according to state finance records, and has funneled $8.66 million total toward its legislative priorities during the 2019-2020 session."
L.A. schools announce massive COVID-19 testing, tracing initiative for all students and staff
"The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explicitly “does not recommend” comprehensive school-based testing, citing a lack of evidence that it would reduce transmission, plus concerns about resources, parental consent and student privacy. It is not yet clear how often LAUSD students will be tested."
LAUSD Frequently Asked Questions about COVID-19 Testing and Tracing
Coronavirus: Missing school is worse than virus for children - Whitty
"Prof Whitty, who is also England's chief medical officer, said "many more [children] were likely to be harmed by not going than harmed by going" to school."
"Prof Whitty used his interview to highlight "overwhelming" evidence that in not going to school, children are more likely to have "mental and physical ill health in the long run".
Houston teacher, mom wants political infighting over school kids to end
"But once data revealed it was not that deadly to children, decisions should have been made on that data. Instead they were made on political fighting."
L.A. teachers union opposes opening campuses for students with disabilities, English learners
"Citing safety concerns, the leader of the Los Angeles teachers union said Friday it opposes reopening campuses for small in-person classes or one-to-one services for students who are disabled or learning English--even though county health officials have cleared the way to do so."
Palo Alto schools, closed since March, will reopen next week for high-need students
"The school district announced its plans for the in-person instruction on Friday, about a week after the California Department of Public Health issued guidance allowing schools to reopen to serve students with "acute" needs, including students with disabilities, English learners, students at higher risk of further learning loss or not participating in distance learning, students at risk of abuse or neglect, foster youth and students experiencing homelessness."
Online-learning challenges creep into deeper mental health issues
"A new Gallup Poll indicates that 29% of parents responding in June felt their kids were ‘already experiencing harm’ to their emotional and mental health off the heels of the past school year ending with online-only learning. The poll questioned 1,200 adults with children in grades K-12.
Forty-five percent of parents responding said their children suffered as a result of being separated from their teachers and fellow students. Parents not only worry about the loss of classroom instruction but the effects of being taken out of a safe, familiar and structured learning environment."
Let children be exposed to viruses, says Professor Gupta
"Professor Sunetra Gupta, who has been a leading critic of the cost of lockdown, says she welcomes the return of schools as children “if anything... would benefit from being exposed to this and other seasonal coronaviruses”.
Gupta, who is a professor of theoretical epidemiology at Oxford, told The Londoner that alongside huge social and educational benefits, the “evidence is mounting that early exposure to these various coronaviruses is what enables people to survive them”."
Reply to: COVID-19, children, and schools: overlooked and at risk
"The discussion on schools is complex, demanding nuanced and balanced scientific and media coverage that considers not only epidemiological questions but also public health, educational, developmental, wellbeing and social equity concerns[2,4].Any contribution must be weighed against the immense costs of long-term school closures, especially for younger children and the disadvantaged in the long term."
California Supreme Court rejects lawsuits seeking to reopen schools during pandemic
"Robert Tyler, one of the lawyers who brought the cases, said the legal fight was not over.
“It simply means that we will have to start the litigation by filing our claims in the Superior Courts because the court is not willing to permit this case to skip the lower courts,” Tyler said. “Once we proceed through the normal process, we believe we will still be victorious in the end.”"
Audio clip on John and Ken Show Re Schools Won't Open in Los Angeles County until the election
Schoolchildren Seem Unlikely to Fuel Coronavirus Surges, Scientists Say
"But Britain and the Netherlands have kept schools open with few restrictions on class sizes or requirements for mask-wearing. Yet they, too, have shown limited transmission among younger children or from children to their parents, Dr. Nichols noted.
“We see a similar pattern in places where they’re doing nothing at schools, so I find that fascinating,” she said."
What the Research Says About School Reopening and COVID-19 Transmission
"Despite widespread concerns, two new international studies show no consistent relationship between in-person K-12 schooling and the spread of the coronavirus. And a third study from the United States shows no elevated risk to childcare workers who stayed on the job.
Combined with anecdotal reports from a number of U.S. states where schools are open, as well as a crowdsourced dashboard of around 2,000 U.S. schools, some medical experts are saying it's time to shift the discussion from the risks of opening K-12 schools to the risks of keeping them closed.
"As a pediatrician, I am really seeing the negative impacts of these school closures on children," Dr. Danielle Dooley, a medical director at Children's National Hospital in Washington, D.C., told NPR. She ticked off mental health problems, hunger, obesity due to inactivity, missing routine medical care and the risk of child abuse — on top of the loss of education. "Going to school is really vital for children. They get their meals in school, their physical activity, their health care, their education, of course.""
"And there are weighty costs of not opening. A report from McKinsey & Co. found that disrupting in-person classes through January 2021 would result in the loss of $61,000 to $82,000 in lifetime earnings for the average K-12 student in the U.S. Another study led by Georgetown University’s George Psacharopoulos found that shutting down all American schools for only four months would result in $2.5 trillion in lost future wages.
One reason economists care about lost earnings is that they increase the risk of death. Lower incomes mean people aren’t able to buy safer cars and afford healthier foods, which inevitably leads to shorter lifespans. Even if the reports overstate the financial losses dramatically, these are large losses and will surely lead to tragic health outcomes in the future. Moreover, mental-health surveys indicate that keeping young children isolated from each other for months has devastating psychological consequences."
If they won’t fully reopen schools, despite what science says, when will they?
"The rest of the world has prioritized children and education and opened schools full-time. It’s an embarrassment that America’s major cities have no plan to do the same and that so many of our leaders spend their time fear-mongering instead."
Distance Learning
"Nearly 4 in 10 high school students in Sonoma County have one or more failing grades and more than 7 in 10 say they feel deep anxiety about the future"
Huge learning losses during COVID-19 disruptions may have DISD lowering its academic goals
"Dallas students suffered such deep learning losses during the pandemic that school officials won’t be able to catch them up by the end of the school year, which means DISD wants to lower its academic goals."
"The most urgent need, said San Diego Unified Superintendent Cindy Marten, is expanded virus testing. State guidance from last summer calls for “surveillance” testing teachers and staff in order to identify potential asymptomatic Covid-19 carriers every other month. “We thought it was important to say clearly that this may not be sufficient,” Marten wrote in an email. “Students should also be tested. And testing may need to be more frequent.”"
‘State-sanctioned segregation’: California’s school closure debate boils over
"A hands-off approach by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and public pressure from powerful labor unions has led the state’s biggest city districts to keep schools shuttered, leaving most of California’s 6 million public schoolchildren learning at home. Even San Francisco, which has had one of the lowest infection rates for any U.S. city, hasn’t attempted in-person teaching.
As the pandemic wears on, more Democrats are sounding the alarm after staying silent earlier this fall. They are increasingly distressed that California's approach has widened the gap between low-income communities of color and wealthier white families."
LEAs need relief from special education lawsuits
"There are no answers to these questions — just finger pointing and lawsuits by parents. The federal and state governments created this collision by implementing and enforcing mandates and responsibilities for LEAs, yet failing to provide answers and viable resources or guidance to provide FAPE to special education students. "
Open Schools, Covid-19, and Child and Teacher Morbidity in Sweden
"Despite Sweden’s having kept schools and preschools open, we found a low incidence of severe Covid-19 among schoolchildren and children of preschool age during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Among the 1.95 million children who were 1 to 16 years of age, 15 children had Covid-19, MIS-C, or both conditions and were admitted to an ICU, which is equal to 1 child in 130,000."
Surge of Student Suicides Pushes Las Vegas Schools to Reopen
"In Clark County, 18 suicides over nine months of closure is double the nine the district had the entire previous year, Dr. Jara said. Six students died by suicide between March 16 and June 30; 12 students died by suicide between July 1 and Dec. 31, the district said.
One student left a note saying he had nothing to look forward to. The youngest student Dr. Jara has lost to suicide was 9."
LAUSD and UTLA Push Back Reopening Talks Deadline Until State Guidelines Are Set
"UTLA's president said the "breadth of services” in LAUSD’s proposal is “too broad." The union only wants its members to provide services that are "absolutely necessary" to be delivered in person, namely assessments for students with disabilities and English Learners, and special education services that cannot be delivered online.
UTLA also does not want its members to be required to return to campus to provide any services until teachers are fully vaccinated."
"To avoid potential exposure to discrimination and/or retaliation claims by employees who have exercised their rights not to be vaccinated, employers should not terminate or take other adverse employment actions against employees who exercise their rights under the statute."
San Francisco Sues Its Own School District to Reopen Classes
"“Not a single San Francisco public school student has set foot in their classroom in 347 days,” Herrera said at a news conference, calling it shameful and unlawful. “More than 54,000 San Francisco schoolchildren are suffering. They are being turned into Zoom-bies by online school. Enough is enough.”"
Coronado reopens middle and high schools with San Diego County in purple tier
"Coronado’s middle school and high school reopened for in-person instruction this week while San Diego County remains in the most restrictive coronavirus status.
The California Teachers Association accused the Coronado Unified School District of opening the two schools unlawfully. State rules “explicitly prohibit” schools from opening during the purple tier, the union said in a cease-and-desist letter last week."
Southern California Pediatricians call for L.A. area schools to immediately reopen
"Los Angeles County campuses that closed amid the COVID-19 pandemic should immediately reopen, according to a regional affiliate of the American Academy of Pediatrics, because the harms of keeping children out of school outweigh the risks of safely and carefully managed classrooms."
COVID school closures most harm students from poorest neighborhoods YaleNews January 5, 2021
"Using a quantitative model to examine the consequences of extended school closures for high school students, the researchers determined that children living in the poorest 20% of U.S. neighborhoods will experience the most negative and long-lasting effects of school closures. For example, their model predicts that one year of school closures will cost ninth graders in the poorest communities a 25% decrease in their post-educational earning potential, even if it is followed by three years of normal schooling. By contrast, their model shows no substantial losses for students from the richest 20% of neighborhoods. "
Los Angeles Public School Parents, Students Protest Against Schools Not Reopening February 22, 2021
"Parents and students in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) held a Zoom blackout and protest Monday, against LA public schools not reopening.
Dozens of parents and student joined a protest outside the Federal Building in Los Angeles against both the LAUSD and United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA), the teachers labor union. Both the protesters and those participating in the blackout demanded that schools reopen for in-class learning due to remote learning failing to properly educate students and disadvantaging poorer students."
Powerful teachers union influenced CDC on school reopenings, emails show
"The American Federation of Teachers lobbied the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on, and even suggested language for, the federal agency’s school-reopening guidance released in February.
The powerful teachers union’s full-court press preceded the federal agency putting the brakes on a full re-opening of in-person classrooms, emails between top CDC, AFT and White House officials show."
CDC sued for withholding records between top personnel and teachers' unions on school reopenings
"A watchdog group is suing the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention over its failure to produce communications between top agency brass and teachers' unions over school reopenings. "
Kids' suicide, mental health hospitalizations spiked amid COVID lockdowns, research finds
"The researcher fears that strict COVID protocols in reopened schools, which were already cutting into the gains researchers expected to see this spring, will continue the mental health problems in children. Noble called it an "underrecognized" but hard-to-quantify problem.
Parents in many school districts that reopened with "really strict" protocols in the past few months have shared their anecdotes with Noble. Many teens didn't want to return to settings where their interactions were constantly discouraged, and those who did said it "increased their feelings of isolation."
The protocols instilled fear in younger children, who were constantly warned to stay away from each other, she said. Parents reported that masks were preventing them from reading emotions or understanding speech, particularly for those with speech impediments.
These in-school efforts are of limited value, according to the presentation. Researchers have known "for a year and counting" that adults are the "primary drivers" of COVID and kids are "extremely unlikely" to have severe reactions to the virus. Suicides outpaced COVID deaths 20-fold among those 18 and younger in 2020.
Noble told Just the News she's worried that headlines will blare out an uptick in mental health service utilization and child abuse reports when kids return to school this fall, correlating school reopening with harm to children. That misunderstands the role of schools as the primary source of referrals, she said."
Changes in Body Mass Index Among Children and Adolescents During the COVID-19 Pandemic
"Significant weight gain occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic among youths in KPSC, especially among the youngest children. These findings, if generalizable to the US suggest an increase in pediatric obesity due to the pandemic."
"Research should monitor whether the observed weight gain persists and what long-term health consequences may emerge. Intervention efforts to address COVID-19 related weight gain may be needed."
*KPSC=Kaiser Permanente Southern California
CDC quietly removed school guidance for eliminating masks, rolling back COVID-19 prevention efforts
""They removed all off-ramps," Zachreson, who leads the group Reopen California Schools, told Fox News. "So other mitigations, removing masking – even if COVID prevalence goes down to zero or vaccination rates increase – the CDC guidelines do not recommend removing these protocols for schools like they previously did." "
"The federal Department of Education has provided three rounds of Covid-19 relief funds to K-12 schools in the form of the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Funds (ESSER Funds). The first round provided roughly $13.2 billion to allow schools to purchase the necessary PPE as well as devices for students. The second round of funding (ESSER II fund), passed in December 2020, includes $54.3 billion in relief, with a minimum of 90% required to go directly to local school districts. The American Rescue Plan ESSER funds (ARP ESSER or ESSER III) totaled $122.8 billion."
California could lose millions in federal money meant for K-12 schools, state audit finds
"The audit, released Tuesday, found that California might have to return up to $160 million in federal aid if the state’s Department of Education, referred to as “Education” by the auditor, continues to disburse and monitor federal funds used by K-12 schools the way it is doing it now."
REPORTS
A LITERATURE REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTS OF LOCKDOWNS ON COVID-19 MORTALITY
Jonas Herby, Lars Jonung, and Steve H. Hanke
"Finally, allow us to broaden our perspective after presenting our meta-analysis that focuses on the following question: “What does the evidence tell us about the effects of lockdowns on mortality?” We provide a firm answer to this question: The evidence fails to confirm that lockdowns have a significant effect in reducing COVID-19 mortality. The effect is little to none.
The use of lockdowns is a unique feature of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lockdowns have not been used to such a large extent during any of the pandemics of the past century. However, lockdowns during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic have had devastating effects. They have contributed to reducing economic activity, raising unemployment, reducing schooling, causing political unrest, contributing to domestic violence, and undermining liberal democracy. These costs to society must be compared to the benefits of lockdowns, which our meta-analysis has shown are marginal at best. Such a standard benefit-cost calculation leads to a strong conclusion: lockdowns should be rejected out of hand as a pandemic policy instrument."
How To Protect Special Education During COVID-19: From the Courts to the Capitol University of Miami School of Law 2022
Influence and Power of Teacher Unions on School Reopening for In Person Education
Are School Reopening Decisions Related to Union Influence?
Power in a Pandemic: Teachers Union's and their Responses to School Reopening
The Effects of School Reopenings on COVID-19 Hospitalizations
Politics, Markets, and Pandemics: Public Education’s Response to COVID-19
Campaigns to Reopen Schools
UsforThem UK Campaigning to Put Children First
Reports and White Paper
Orange County Board of Education White Paper Reopening Schools Guidelines
Audio of the board meeting with many fantastic public comments
It’s Not Safe to Keep Schools Closed a Report by Phil Kerpen
The Impact of COVID-19 on Education by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
Articles behind a paywall
If Your Toddler Isn’t Talking Yet, the Pandemic Might Be to Blame Wall Street Journal
‘Are They Setting My Children Up for Failure?’ Remote Learning Widens Education Gap.
Remote learning widens education gap
The risks of keeping schools closed far outweigh the benefits
The Results Are in for Remote Learning; It Didn't Work
Is It Safe to Reopen Schools? These Countries Say Yes
The Case for Reopening Schools
The Toll That Isolation Takes on Kids During the Coronavirus Era
Recommendations for School Reopening SickKids Canada
Research Shows Students Falling Months Behind During Virus Disruptions
Schools in Europe Reopen with little debate
Boris Johnson: failure to reopen schools is not an option
Going to school ‘does not increase risk of young children catching coronavirus’
The anxious generation — what’s bothering Britain’s schoolchildren? Financial Times August 5, 2022
Stress, covid, other school-year worries. Experts give parents tips. Washington Post August 7, 2022
Superintendents Guidance Reopening Schools
Los Angeles Superintendents Guidance Reopening SchoolsOffice of Administrative Hearings during
COVID-19
Educate. Advocate. Press Release. Students with
Exceptional Needs and Special Education Services
During In Person Closures
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