December 7, 2021: Special Meeting on a Possible COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate for District Employees Ends With No Action

President Joe Schaffer called the special meeting of the Board of Education to order at 4:00 p.m. with Don Bridge, Andrew Cruz, James Na and Schaffer present. Christina Gagnier took part remotely from the Hotel Hugo in New York, a location noticed on the agenda 12. Superintendent Norm Enfield and Richard Rideout, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources, attended 1. The meeting had one item: a discussion of the potential effects of a vaccine mandate for district employees. Fourteen people addressed the board on it, and no action was taken. Schaffer adjourned the meeting at 5:41 p.m. 1

This page's record is the district's adopted minutes, which name the people below. The minutes attribute no remarks to any board member or speaker, so nothing heard on the recording is attributed to a named person here.

💉 Why the board met

The agenda memo, from Superintendent Enfield, says board members requested a public discussion to address the questions and concerns district employees had about the development, implementation and enforcement of a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy 2. Citing Board Bylaw 9320(b) on special meetings, it noted that "No other business shall be considered at these meetings." The memo recommended only that the board discuss the subject and listed no fiscal impact 2.

In October 2021 Governor Gavin Newsom announced that California would require students to be vaccinated against COVID-19 for in-person learning, taking effect at the start of the term after full approval for each grade span, and expected to reach grades 7 through 12 on July 1, 2022. His office presented it as following earlier state school masking and staff vaccination measures 3. The board's November 4, 2021 minutes record a resolution to the governor urging him to reconsider or rescind the student requirement; as amended, it also urged him to reconsider the requirement for staff 4. Looking back on 2021, the Chino Champion wrote that the district was most affected by the pandemic when parents opposed to vaccination mandates for teachers, staff and students held protests and "jammed school board meetings" 5.

🎤 Public comment

The minutes list 14 people who addressed the board on the agenda item (names as printed): Carla Vande Steeg, Julie Van Dell, Chris Stevens, Kylene Valles, Debra Rosen, Kristal Flum, Christina, Arlene Lamb, Tanya Macias, Elaine Maxwell, Kimberly Barreras, Molly Large, Kathy Wōgahn and Mary Jane Ashley 1. One speaker is listed by first name only. The minutes record who spoke but not what each person said, and on the recording each speaker is called to the podium by name, so the comments are not summarized here.

🗣️ Board discussion

The minutes record that Na moved and Gagnier seconded to discuss the item, and that no action was taken 1. The minutes give no member's remarks. The themes below were heard from the dais on the recording; they are not attributed to anyone and are not in speaking order.

• No mandate in hand. From what was publicly known, the state requirement was intended for now to be an administrative regulation 6.
• What the concern really was. A question from the dais was whether the concern was any mandate at all, or that there would be no meaningful exemptions 7.
• Contracts, exemptions and leave. A concern was raised that vaccination could be written into employment contracts in June, and questions were relayed on whether personal and religious exemptions would be considered 8, how accommodations would work for employees with medical exemptions, and whether employees would be docked leave after a false-positive COVID-19 test 8.
• Taking concerns to lawmakers. An offer was made to carry the concerns heard to the area's state senators and assembly members and to federal officials 99, with the argument that a request for actual exemptions would be heard where an absolute "no" might not be 99.

📋 Outcome

The board took no action on the item 1. The adopted minutes are signed by Christina Gagnier as president and James Na as clerk 1; the Champion's year-end review reported that Gagnier became board president at the board's reorganizational meeting that December 5.