Some Fresno-area parents keep kids home from school in protest over Newsom vaccine mandate

More than 200 Fresno-area parents joined an organized statewide protest over Gov. Gavin Newsom’s new student coronavirus vaccine requirement and more kept their kids home from school Monday.

“To fight for our kids,” Fresno parent Katie Jerkovich said. “More research needs to be done. I’m going to fight for my kid and all kids. Stop this insanity.”

Fresno parent Cheri Perry said she couldn’t attend Monday’s rally outside the Fresno County Public Health Department because she had to work. She said she supports it.

“But my children will not be attending school today,” Perry told The Bee’s Education Lab.

Clovis parent Kelly Schofield said she’s more concerned about the long-term effects of the vaccine than she is about the coronavirus.

“Some of my children have already had COVID,” she said during Monday’s protest. “If Gavin Newsom enforced this, they will be homeschooled in my home.”

Newsom’s vaccine requirement, expected to go into effect sometime next year, sparked anger from many parents when it was announced earlier this month. In the weeks following the announcement, many Fresno and Clovis-area parents expressed frustration.

Some urged school boards to defy state COVID-19 mandates.

Nearly 83% of Clovis students were in class Monday, the day hundreds of parents around California were expected to keep their children home to protest Gov. Gavin Newsom’s student coronavirus vaccination mandate.

CUSD spokesperson Kelly Avants described Monday’s school absences as “a small uptick” compared to a typical day for a district of about 43,000 students.

By comparison, about 90% of Clovis students were in school Monday, Oct. 11, and 91% attended Monday, Oct. 4.

It’s unclear how many of Monday’s absences were due to the vaccine protest.

Fresno’s Central Unified reported 94% of the district’s 15,773 students were in class Monday, which was actually a slight increase compared to a week earlier when 92% of students made it to school, according to district spokesperson Gilbert Magallon.

In Fresno Unified schools, about 83% of the district’s 70,000 students were in class Monday. By comparison, a week earlier, about 85% of the student body made it to school, FUSD spokesperson Nikki Henry said.

At least a handful of local teachers joined Monday’s rally in Fresno, which comes just days after Newsom’s teacher vaccination requirement went into effect Friday.

As of Friday, about 64% of Clovis Unified staff had been vaccinated.

“We have not had any employees who have resigned citing the state’s testing or vaccination requirement,” CUSD spokesperson Kelly Avants told the Ed Lab.

About 75% of Central Unified School District staffers were fully vaccinated as of Friday.

Student vaccination protests follow outrage over school masks

Updated Fresno Unified vaccination rates were not immediately available, but in late September, about 41% of staff, including more than 64% of teachers, had been fully vaccinated, according to district spokesperson Nikki Henry.

Monday’s protest echoes similar parent outrage earlier this year when Newsom implemented a statewide mask-wearing requirement at California schools. Many parents threatened to remove their kids from schools over the requirement.

Some California schools reported significant drops in student enrollment. But while enrollment in local online schools swelled as more parents chose to keep their kids learning from home, overall enrollment in Fresno County’s three largest school districts remains basically the same as last year, according to early data from the districts.

As of late September, Fresno Unified expected to have about 200 fewer students than a year ago, with a projected enrollment of about 70,000 students, Henry said.

In Clovis, about 43,696 students were enrolled as of Friday, up about six students compared to last year, Avants said.

Central Unified gained about 30 students, inching enrollment to 15,773, Magallon said.

Majority support coronavirus vaccination, data show

Supporters of the vaccine mandates note schools already require immunizations for several infectious diseases, and the coronavirus vaccination is simply the latest. Some supporters also have said protesters have received too much attention and noted that most of the country supports vaccination mandates.

Clovis parents have been particularly vocal at school board meetings, urging the school board to ignore mask-wearing and vaccination requirements. Some on the Clovis school board have said, while they believe in the science behind the vaccines, they don’t support government immunization requirements.

That sentiment also emerged at Monday’s protest in Fresno.

Clovis teacher Daniel Samarin said he was concerned about the government requiring the new vaccine for children, saying “more and more liberties” (are) starting to be taken away from people.”

“Personally, I’m vaccinated, but the mandates keep changing. they keep moving the goal post, and they’ve gotten to the point where they’re going to enforce vaccination on children,” Samarin said at the protest. “Personally, I’m more concerned on what the future holds, what else are they going to take away or what else are they going to enforce.”

And while little opinion polling data exist, Clovis has relatively high vaccination rates compared to other parts of Fresno County, according to recent data from the California Department of Public Health.

As of Sept. 28, the 93611 ZIP code of Clovis is 64.2% vaccinated, and 71.8% has at least one dose administered; Clovis’s 93612 ZIP code has 58.3% of residents fully vaccinated, and 66.2% of residents have at least one shot. The nearby 93619 ZIP code, which includes northeast Clovis and a large rural area north and east of the city, There, almost 80% of the vaccine-eligible residents are fully vaccinated, and about 89% have at least one shot.

But thousands of parents like Jerkovich remain concerned over the potential long-term effects of the vaccine, despite the FDA’s interim approval of the Pfizer vaccine for those 12 and up.

“Everyone needs to take a pause and slow down,” Jerkovich said. “More research needs to be done.”

Leading health and medical experts have said the vaccines are safe and effective. More than 403 million doses of the vaccine have been distributed since December last year.

The Education Lab is a local journalism initiative that highlights education issues critical to the advancement of the San Joaquin Valley. It is funded by donors. Learn about The Bee’s Education Lab on our website.

This story was originally published October 18, 2021 at 9:35 AM.