Written by Amanda Angulo
On Wednesday, El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells spoke in front of a rally of parents who were protesting the vaccine mandates. Over 200 people gathered in front of Grossmont High School, near the El Cajon – La Mesa border.
Like many other school districts have been facing in the state of California, the Grossmont Union High School District, consisting of 17,000 students, is also expecting for all students attending in-person to be vaccinated for COVID-19 by July 1, 2022.
In the San Diego Unified School District, students over the age of 16 are expected and required to be fully vaccinated by Dec. 20. There is still no deadline, yet, for students between the ages 5-15.
The rally, which was organized by the East County Mamas and Dads for Freedom group, saw speeches by Mayor Well and El Cajon Councilman Phil Ortiz. “I’m pretty sick and tired of the government telling us what to do… I don’t co-parent with the government,” said Councilman Ortiz.
Mayor Wells mentioned during his speech that the mandates are “totalitarianism and it is designed to take all of the power away from the people.” He also urged the rally attendees to attend as many government meetings in order to make sure their voices are heard. Wells continued, “you have to be willing to make sacrifices to not comply to protect the way of life that you have enjoyed all of your life, if not for yourself , your children and grandchildren.”
Both elected officials were both stating that the government has no control over our right to not get sick, because it merely doesn’t exist. “You cannot resist the movement of free and healthy people,” stated Ortiz, who is also a pastor at Foothills Christian Church in El Cajon.
So far the students in the district are not yet worried about the mandate because it has not been implemented yet. Currently, students are required to wear masks in classrooms. A Grossmont High School baseball player stated that he doesn’t like the vaccine mandate and thinks “it is lame. I don’t think we should be vaccinated without our choice.”
Photo Cred: Chris Stone
