Immanuel Schools ordered to end in-person classes, after Fresno County court hearing
Immanuel Schools in Reedley, a private school that has flouted state and county health orders during the coronavirus pandemic, must immediately stop in-person teaching, a Fresno County Superior Court judged ruled Tuesday.
Judge D. Tyler Tharpe in a 10-page decision granted Fresno County’s request for a preliminary injunction against the schools.
“Immanuel Schools and Ryan Wood (superintendent), as well as their respective officers, employees, agents, representatives, members, volunteers and all persons acting under, in concert with, or for them must immediately cease and desist from conducting, participating in or attending in-person class instruction at the Immanuel Schools property...,” the judge wrote.
School officials issued a statement Tuesday saying that while they are disappointed with the judge’s decision, they will continue their fight to remain open.
“The Board of Trustees will be meeting today to determine our next actions, which will include pursuing our Cross Complaint against the County. We still believe strongly that we have the constitutional right to provide the on-campus education that all students need and deserve while also leaving that decision up to our families,” according to the statement.
Fresno County spokesman Jordan Scott said the county will be working with the school on the details of how it will implement the judge’s ruling. When asked what happens if the school ignores the judge’s ruling, he said in a text message: “If they violate a court order, the court would enforce as they deem appropriate.”
The county has accused Immanuel Schools of violating the state’s health order that prohibits Fresno County schools and those in other counties from returning to the classroom until they are off the state’s COVID-19 monitoring list for 14 consecutive days.
Immanuel Schools disagreed with the order, citing constitutional protections. They reopened their K-12 schools and the county promptly filed a temporary injunction on Aug. 25 to try and shut them down.
But Tharpe ruled against the county, saying it did not provide enough proof of irreparable harm — one of the keystones for granting such a request.
Although the county lost that decision, it moved forward with its request for a preliminary injunction. The hearing for a preliminary injunction allows both sides to present a more thorough case.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Tharpe said he reviewed hundreds of pages of documents from both sides and allowed each attorney to summarize their case.
Unlike the last hearing before Tharpe, there weren’t hundreds of Immanuel supporters outside the B.F. Sisk courthouse. Instead, about 120 mostly parents and community supporters met at the school’s sports complex for a prayer meeting.
Attorney Jennifer Bursch, whose Orange County law firm represents Immanuel and other private schools, repeated her belief that the state does not have the constitutional authority to prevent students from attending school, even during a pandemic. She also said the health orders are arbitrary and applied unevenly.
County Counsel Daniel Cederborg said that by allowing the faith-based school to remain open it’s creating the potential for a health crisis. He said it isn’t just the students, parents, and teachers that could become ill with coronavirus, its the entire community of Reedley and beyond.
Judge Tharpe agreed.
“In their original Opposition, defendants argued that ‘the County would not suffer irreparable harm’ should an injunction be denied. The evidence is to the contrary. The evidence presented by the County amply supports a finding that the County and its residents are under the threat of irreparable harm should defendants be allowed to conduct in-person classroom instruction while the County and its residents are in the throes of the COVID-l9 pandemic,” he wrote.
Immanuel school officials have said their school community is not a threat to the rest of the county because they have herd immunity, based on a study done by one of the school’s parents, a pathologist.
The school also alleges that in the five weeks they have been open they do not have a single case of coronavirus.
Cederborg has disputed the study and said the school does not test on a regular basis, so they wouldn’t know who is infected with the virus.
This story was originally published September 15, 2020 at 11:35 AM.
