Oakland School News: OUSD Board of Education To Enforce Student Vaccine Requirement Starting January 1, 2022
Oakland – During the Board of Education meeting on Wednesday evening, October 27, the Directors adopted a Board Policy that enforces the previously approved student vaccine requirement starting January 1, 2022. At the meeting, the Board considered three different options, and they are listed as follows:
- Starting January 1, 2022, all students must be vaccinated to attend school in person (or take part in any other in-person school activity) unless they are exempted.
- Starting January 1, 2022, all students must be vaccinated to take part in certain extracurricular activities such as sports, prom, walking the stage at graduation, etc. Unvaccinated students would still be allowed to attend classes in person.
- The vaccine requirement for students would be enforced at the start of the 2022-23 school year beginning in August 2022 – just like the state requirement – and all students must be vaccinated to attend school in person (or take part in any other in-person school activity) at that time unless they are exempted.
The Board voted 4-3 to pass option number one. Students will have to be fully vaccinated by the time the spring semester begins in January 2022. There are a number of exemptions in the policy, including an exemption for medical reasons, for personal belief, or if a student has received their first or second shots but is not yet fully vaccinated. (An individual must wait two weeks after their second shot to be considered fully vaccinated.) All non-exempted, unvaccinated students will be offered placement in the District’s independent study program at Sojourner Truth.
Since students 12 and older became eligible for the vaccine, OUSD has been working with Alameda County to ensure that all eligible students have access to the vaccine. OUSD will continue to do so and is seeking to partner with other service providers to make vaccines available to all unvaccinated students at sites across the District. Along with public health and medical experts, the District will also continue to share information about the importance, safety, and efficacy of the vaccines with students, families, and staff.
About the Oakland Unified School District
In California’s most diverse city, Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) is dedicated to creating a learning environment where “Every Student Thrives!” More than half of our students speak a non-English language at home. And each of our 80 schools is staffed with talented individuals uniting around a common set of values: Students First, Equity, Excellence, Integrity, Cultural Responsiveness and Joy. We are committed to preparing all students for college, career and community success.
To learn more about OUSD’s Full Service Community District focused on academic achievement while serving the whole child in safe schools, please visit OUSD.org and follow us @OUSDnews.
Post based on press release by OUSD to ZENNIE62MEDIA, INC.