As you may have heard, today Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that California will require schools to verify that workers are fully vaccinated or tested regularly for COVID-19. The new order applies to public and private schools serving students in transitional kindergarten through grade 12; it does not apply to home schools.

Under the order, all schools must verify vaccine status of all workers, with certain modes accepted as proof of vaccination. Workers who are not fully vaccinated, or for whom vaccine status is unknown or documentation is not provided, must be considered unvaccinated. Those employees are required to undergo diagnostic screening testing at least once weekly with either PCR testing or antigen testing.

Local educational agencies must be in full compliance with the order by Oct. 15, 2021.

The order is part of the state’s efforts to protect Californians from the dangerous Delta variant of COVID-19 that is now circulating in our community. Vaccination status can have an impact on if and how long employees are required to quarantine after an exposure to COVID-19, and employees who are not vaccinated may be offered additional personal protective equipment under rules from Cal/OSHA.

We are analyzing the order and will share additional information on how this will impact school operations when we know more. In the meantime, the San Diego County Office of Education Communications team has created a template letter in English and Spanish for your use in informing your school community about the new requirements.

email: paul.gothold@sdcoe.net