BHUSD Mulls Vaccine Requirement For Students

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — The Beverly Hills Unified School District Board of Education on Tuesday mulled additional measures for keeping students and staff safe during the pandemic ranging from compulsory COVID-19 testing to vaccine requirements.

After much debate, the only consensus to emerge is that more needs to be done.

“Thinking about going into the future, we know we are going to have positive cases. It's important to think about other ways that we have a responsibility to ensure that we are keeping our schools open for in-person learning," Superintendent Dr. Michael Bregy said. "It’s day eight, and, already, we’ve had — just at the high school — 133 close contacts. I just want to put into perspective that we have an environment that is disruptive...There has to be more that we do."

District officials and BHUSD families are up against an ever-evolving set of circumstances. Since the school-year began, neighboring Culver City Unified School District became the first district in California to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for their students, teachers and staff sparking a national conversation about whether other school districts will follow. Adding further nuance to the conversation, government agencies, universities and private companies instated vaccine mandates after the FDA approved the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine Monday for individuals over the age of 16. And just a week into the school year, multiple students have shown up for class despite having symptoms consistent with COVID-19. These national headlines have called BHUSD policy into question, as parents, community members and board members discuss the pros and cons of a potential vaccine requirement.

"We are between a rock and a hard place on this particular very difficult situation," Board President Rachelle Marcus said.

Marcus said that given the legal and other challenges to mandating a vaccine, she would hope the district can work to improve student and family behavior through education until further guidance comes from the state or county.

As it stands, BHUSD does not require regular testing or vaccinations for students over the age of 12, though it does offer free COVID-19 Rapid Antigen testing for BHUSD students, staff and volunteers, details for which can be found on the BHUSD website. So far this school year, two staff members and nine students have tested positive for COVID-19 across all five schools in the district. The majority of infections have been among high school students.

The priority on most board members' minds was protecting in-person instruction as long as it's safely possible. Nearly all board members agreed that additional precautions are necessary but not that a vaccine mandate is necessarily the first step.

Changes discussed Tuesday included stricter mask requirements, more frequent and mandatory testing for staff and students, vaccine requirements and improving consequences and incentives. The board members agreed that increased and potentially mandated testing is a necessary next step and directed staff to begin preparing a policy on compulsory testing for the district. The board, however, showed less consensus on mandatory vaccines for students over the age of 16 and deferred the issue to a future board meeting.

Many board members anticipate a vaccine mandate from the state in the coming months, but disagreed as to whether an impending decision makes a vaccine mandate more or less urgent.

Bregy and other board members expressed dismay about self-reporting from students and their families, increasing the urgency for additional precautions. Bregy said that on multiple occasions, students have shown up to school with symptoms of COVID-19 even knowing they had been in contact with infected persons.

"It surprises me to hear — well I guess it shouldn't surprise, me but it does — that we have students that are experiencing symptoms and still coming to school. In a regular environment, it's inconsiderate. In this environment, it's outrageous," board member Tristen Walker-Shuman said. "I would really hope that our parents can do a little bit more soul searching ... because those students that are coming that are having symptoms are putting everyone else at risk."

Board member Mary Wells recommended that even in the absence of a vaccine mandate, BHUSD try to become a vaccination site. Additionally, Wells suggested BHUSD host an expert panel for parents and community members to ask their COVID-19 and vaccine-related questions.

Nine members of the community, including healthcare providers, spoke at the meeting about vaccines and testing. The speakers feel nearly equally on either side of the debate — some calling for mandatory testing and vaccination and others asking that the board refrain from mandating such precautions.

Two members of the public referenced the Culver City school district's vaccine mandate and Los Angeles Unified's mandatory weekly testing as examples of good practices for safety at school.

"I'm incredibly frustrated ... after hearing that Culver City has now taken the necessary step to require vaccines for staff and eligible students. This comes after wondering for months why our district is not requiring weekly testing like LAUSD," community member Kelly Hinden said. "Last year the administration and staff were phenomenal at adopting and providing a robust and engaging learning environment. But now, when we are once again in the throes of a pandemic, why are we not doing all we can to keep our children and community safe?"

Other members of the community, like BHUSD parent Mirit Neman, had hesitations.

"I find it interesting that the families, the parents, what have you, who want to everyone to get tested, to wear a mask, are imposing that on other families. Every family should have a choice to do what they want ... whether it's to give a vaccine or not," Neman said.

Moving forward, Marcus encouraged the board to take swift, decisive action.

"It's given us all a lot of thought, everyone's ideas have been able to be expressed. I think it's been a very good discussion. I would like to say that if we are going to take steps, and we should take steps, we need to make them known. We can't sit back and really wait," said Marcus. "Either we are going to test or we are not going to test. Either we're going to vaccinate or we can't — we can't sit here in the middle."