TENTATIVE RULING

Judge Halts San Diego School District’s Student Vaccine Mandate

A judge sided with the ‘Let Them Choose’ parent group, which filed against San Diego Unified School District in October after a mandate for students 16 and older was announced.

A state judge ruled Monday against a San Diego public school district, saying that its coronavirus vaccine mandate for students conflicts with state law. San Diego Unified School District’s mandate required students 16 years old and older to be fully vaccinated against the virus by the start of the spring semester on Jan. 24 to continue with in-person instruction. Judge John Meyer, who called the district’s mandate “necessary and rational,” nonetheless sided with the ‘Let Them Choose’ parent group, which filed suit against the district in October, in his ruling on Monday. Attorneys representing the parents’ organization took issue with the lack of a “personal belief exemption” in the district’s mandate, arguing that mandates had to be issued at the state level. San Diego Unified had said in September that unvaccinated students who fell under the mandate, unless they had a medical exemption, would transition to the system’s remote learning program. Meyer ruled that such a transfer, if forced, violated state law. The judge has five days to sign Monday’s ruling. It is unclear if the school district plans to appeal the decision.