LA schools extend deadline for staff vaccinations

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is extending its deadline for staff to get vaccinated against the coronavirus.  

SEIU Local 99, which represents more than 50,000 education workers in three counties including LAUSD non-teaching employees, announced Monday that it was able to negotiate an extension of the vaccination deadline by one month.

Under the agreement, employees who have at least one vaccine dose by Oct. 15 will be allowed to report to work as long as they receive their second dose by Nov. 15. Employees without record of any vaccination by Oct. 15 will not be separated before Nov. 1.

The district originally announced in August that all employees would need to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 15. At the time, the district also said that employees would still undergo regular COVID-19 testing, regardless of vaccination status.

In a statement to The Hill, a district spokesperson said the “health and safety of all in the Los Angeles Unified community is of utmost importance.”

The spokesperson added that the new dates were imposed to “protect the health and safety of all students and employees and also to ensure that all employees are able to be vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine of their choice.”

Students and employees will still undergo weekly testing through the end of the first semester, the spokesperson said.

News of the deadline extension was first reported by the Los Angeles Times. Asked about the mandate, interim Superintendent Megan Reilly told the newspaper that the district doesn’t want anyone to lose their jobs.

“We don’t want people to be out of jobs,” Reilly told the Times, adding that “our employees are one of the strongest assets that we have.”

However, she said the district is “absolutely adamant about keeping our schools the safest possible environment — and vaccinations are clearly the pathway to keeping them safe.”

The district announced in September that eligible students ages 12 and over would need to be fully vaccinated by Jan. 10. This means that students have to have their first dose by Nov. 21 and second dose by Dec. 19.

This mandate came before California announced that it would mandate students ages 12 and over be fully vaccinated once the Food and Drug Administration fully approved a vaccine for that age group.

Pfizer’s vaccine is currently the only vaccine being administered under emergency use authorization for this age group.

— Updated at 10:09 a.m.