Late Monday, the San Diego Unified School District released a statement regarding the continued enforcement of its COVID-19 vaccination mandate. The district is requiring all eligible students 16 and up to be fully vaccinated by January in order to continue to attend classes in-person.
Attorneys for a Scripps Ranch High School student who sued to challenge the San Diego Unified School District's COVID-19 vaccine mandate filed an emergency application with the U.S. Supreme Court Friday.
In its statement, the district said the case has already been thoroughly considered by federal judges at the trial and appellate court levels, and that they "have correctly concluded that the program is lawful."
The district said it "will continue to defend its program".
Following rulings from a San Diego federal judge and the U.S. Ninth Circuit of Appeals which upheld the district's mandate, attorneys for the student identified as Jill Doe in court documents are looking to the Supreme Court to block enforcement of the policy.
Doe and her parents sued to block the mandate on religious grounds.
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The district's mandate holds that students 16 years and older must receive their second dose by Dec. 20 or be required to take part in remote learning via independent study.
By the start of the district's second semester on Jan. 24, unvaccinated students will not be allowed to continue with in-person instruction unless they have an approved medical exemption.
While the district's plan allows for medical exemptions to the mandate, it does not permit religious or personal belief exemptions.
One of Doe's attorneys, Paul Jonna, said the district's exempting students on secular grounds, while prohibiting religious exemptions, amounts to discrimination.
"In stark contrast to this student's effective expulsion from her school and sports team, the San Diego Unified School District exempts tens of thousands of this student's classmates (and many of her teachers) from the same mandate for secular reasons," Jonna said.
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A ruling on the district's mandate is also expected soon in a separate lawsuit filed in San Diego Superior Court by the local parents' group Let Them Breathe, which is seeking a decision by the Dec. 20 second dose deadline.
San Diego Superior Court Judge John Meyer set a hearing for Dec. 20 on the matter but was expected to issue a tentative ruling prior to the hearing date.
