Written by William Hale
Once again, Governor Newsom is causing chaos in our California schools. The Governor’s sympathy for radical concepts and policies doesn’t end with Critical Race Theory, this time it’s a COVID-19 vaccine mandate that has sparked even more division among parents, students, teachers, and many more involved in the K-12 school system.
This tension surrounding the vaccine is not absent in San Diego County, as protests erupted in response to the San Diego Unified School District board’s approval of a vaccine mandate. The mandate will begin for all eligible students and employees on December 20, 2021. The vaccine is required to physically participate in the classroom, and it will be enforced for children hoping to get involved with extracurricular activities as well.
On Monday, protests took shape in a few different forms in San Diego. Many parents engaged in a “walkout” by refraining from taking their kids to school, while in Carlsbad, parents and students rallied in groups of up to 100 people. Parents aren’t the only group disturbed by the new mandate, as several school employees called out from work including over a dozen bus drivers particularly in Poway Unified School District . If students aren’t able to attend school with the absence of available bus routes, San Diego and other local school districts may have to reconsider the implementation of the vaccine mandate.
Reasons for rejecting the mandate vary among parents, but one overwhelming sentiment revolves around the unfamiliarity and uncertainty of the vaccines themselves. Many protesters in San Diego have pointed out that more research, data, and time will be needed before they feel comfortable taking the jab. Renae Fieck said she was uncomfortable with her children getting the vaccine, “I don’t think that the science and the data is even out yet to make those decisions. And so, even now, having those mandates already set in stone without even having the data and the research and the knowledge of what those are – I just think we’re in that spot of not really knowing yet.”
Regardless of the nature and efficacy of the COVID vaccines, California’s policy of mandating the new technology in schools just doesn’t sit right with many people in San Diego.
Photo Cred: Getty Images
