SENATE BILL 866 - VIOLATION OF PARENTAL CONSENT

Bill Summary and Call To Action

California Senate Bill 866

VIOLATION OF PARENTAL CONSENT

•  Bill Would Allow Minors to be Vaccinated Without Parental Consent.

•  Undermines Parents’ Decision-Making For Their Own Children.

•  Sets Up Our Children For Injury and Possibly Death From Covid Vaccines. 

Senate Bill 866 was introduced by Senators Wiener and Pan on Jan. 20, 2022 before the CA Legislature, which would allow minors –aged 12 years and up– to take a vaccine without the consent of their parents. This means that a 12 year old could walk into a clinic, get a Covid-19 “vaccination,” without parental consent or even knowledge.

S.B. 866 would allow authorities such as medical practitioners and school personnel, to be able to entice, pressure or coerce our children to take the shot, without regard to parental concerns, family medical history, and other medical contraindications, including prior reactions to vaccines, that could cause injury and even death.

S.B. 866 would undermine parental consent once again, under existing law allowing minors to override parental consent for the diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmissible diseases, expanding it under Section 6931 of the Family Code, to include vaccines, specifically the Covid-19 vaccine, and possibly more in the future, including boosters and new vaccines.

It is also modeled on the San Francisco order allowing minors aged 12 yrs and up to get a COVID-19 vaccine if a parent is not reachable.

The only stipulation is that vaccines must be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and be advised by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

S.B. 866 would authorize a “vaccine provider,” such as a clinic or licensed health facility to administer a vaccine to a 12 year old child, and up, without parental knowledge or consent. And there is zero liability for the vaccine provider —leaving parents completely responsible for treatment of any injuries from adverse effects.

• A 12 year old child is not equipped to comprehend or assess the risks and benefits of a vaccine.

• A 12 year old child might not be aware of disease, family history or even their own adverse effects from previous vaccines, and be unable to properly convey pertinent health details to the healthcare personnel administering the vaccine regarding contraindications and precautions -which could prove extremely dangerous.

• A 12 year old child is not equipped to deal with the potential adverse effects of such a vaccine– conditions such as Pericarditis, Myocarditis, Guillain-Barre Syndrome, Anaphylaxis, and more -including death- that are known reactions to the Covid-19 vaccines.

• A 12 year old child is easily influenced by peer pressure and by persons in authority over them, such as teachers and school personnel, who are unequipped to make such a medical decision that disregards their own specific medical condition and personal situation, and who might not have their best interests at heart.

•  A 12 year old child cannot differentiate between coercion and informed consent.

•  A 12 year old child is still under the care and protection of their parent, and deserve the protection their parent provides against societal/governmental/medical/and pharmaceutical overreach.

 S.B. 866 is a violation of moral law, circumventing the fundamental rights of parents to care for their own children, which are God-given rights and responsibilities.

 S.B. 866 is a violation of informed consent laws which prohibit medical procedures to be performed without full information regarding the risks and benefits, and without coercion or pressure of any kind, including incentives, as per the U.S. Constitution and international law.

 S.B. 866 is a violation of science. Vaccines have failed, are unnecessary, and risky.

• Current Covid-19 vaccines are ineffective, as they have failed to protect people from getting infected and/or from transmitting the virus to others.

• The Covid-19 vaccines are riddled with adverse effects. There are hundreds of thousands of vaccine injuries, and over 20,000 deaths reported to the CDC’s Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS). In particular, the coronavirus vaccines are known to cause Myocarditis, among other serious conditions, among young people, especially young men.

Long-term effects are completely unknown and it’s safety unproven.

www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/ensuringsafety/monitoring/vaers/
www.medalerts.org/vaersdb/index.php

Vaccines are recognized to be “unavoidably unsafe” by the US Federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, which has awarded over $4.4 billion to vaccine victims. www.hrsa.gov/vaccine-compensation/index.html www.medalerts.org/vaersdb/index.php

Children are at extremely low risk for hospitalization or death from the coronavirus. Data shows that the only deaths to children from C-19 are those who had serious comorbidities.

Children are virtually at no risk from the virus,
but significant risk from the Covid-19 vaccine.

This proposed bill deserves adamant opposition to prevent it from becoming law! Keep minor children under the care and responsibility of their parents. Prevent children from making decisions that they are not yet cognitively able to make. Prevent this over-reaching bill from potentially harming our children from vaccine injury and to prevent the overthrow of the most basic of all rights -the responsibility for the protection of the health and safety of their children! 

URGENT CALL TO ACTION- Oppose S.B. 866

Help Protect Our Children and Fundamental Parental Rights

Register your opposition to this legislation.

Contact:

• Your own state senator and assembly member.

  https://findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov

• Legislators on Senate Health Committee

  https://shea.senate.ca.gov/

Offices are open Monday-Friday 9AM-5PM.

State your name, address, and that you oppose bill numbers SB866 & SB871 (Info below) You will need to provide your address to verify you are a constituent.

If you don’t feel comfortable speaking, you may register your opposition on their website.

If you write in a 2nd language, they will translate and register your statement.

5 Additional reasons you can state to oppose SB866:

1. SB866 undermines empowerment of women. Presumes women as mothers cannot be informed, educated, or make decisions for their children.

2. Also undermines ESL and non-English speaking parent communities. It's already difficult for them to know what's going on with their child at school with limited translations. This will widen that gap.

3. Last year, legislators thought that children couldn’t make safe decisions about vaping. If that’s true, they wouldn’t be mature enough to make serious medical decisions about receiving medical interventions like vaccines.

4. Vaccines are liability free, if anything bad were to happen to a child for receiving a vaccine without parent knowledge or consent, the state would not be liable.

5. Because there are possible risks and long term studies are still being conducted, parents must be aware and give consent.

Senate Bill 871 - Mandates COVID-19 Vaccinations for All School Age Children

Summary/Call to Action

Senate Bill 871 

“Keep Schools Open and Safe Act”

Mandates COVID-19 Vaccinations for all School Age Children

Absolutely not Safe. It’s An Outrage.

S.B.871:

• MANDATES ALL SCHOOLCHILDREN GET COVID-19 VACCINATION

• REMOVES PERSONAL BELIEF EXEMPTION

• WOULD ADD COVID-19 VACCINE TO MANDATORY SCHEDULE OF SHOTS

• WOULD ALLOW THE STATE TO MANDATE NEW VACCINES- WITHOUT FDA APPROVAL

• WOULD ALLOW ADDITIONAL BOOSTERS TO THE SCHEDULE OF SHOTS

BACKGROUND- Jan. 20, 22, State Senator Scott Wiener introduced S.B. 688, which would allow minors, ages 12 and up, to take a vaccine without the knowledge or consent of their parents.

S.B. 871: The following week, Jan. 24, 2022, State Senator Richard Pan introduced S.B 871, the “Keep Schools Open and Safe Act,” which would mandate that all schoolchildren, kindergarten through 12th grade, at both public and private schools, be vaccinated against Covid-19, to attend in-person schooling.

S.B. 871 would add the Covid vaccine to California’s list of required inoculations for all K-12 schoolchildren in order to attend in-class learning. (It also adds Hepatitis B shot for 7th grade students.) This bill would allow the California State Department of Public Health (CDPH) to mandate the Covid-19 vaccine for schoolchildren.

S.B. 871 removes all personal belief and religious exemptions! Previous legislation, S.B. 277, allowed for personal belief exemptions for future vaccines. S.B. 871 would eliminate the personal/ religious exemption for the covid-19 vaccine and all future vaccines the state mandated.

 S.B. 871 allows the state to mandate future vaccines deemed necessary by the CDPH- including vaccines for STD’s and Covid-19 boosters. It also allows for new vaccines and for additional doses of the vaccines.

CALL TO ACTION:

*Call your state senator and assembly member to register your opposition to S.B. 866 and S.B. 871.

Stand up for your medical freedom and religious rights and call or email today. Offices are open Monday-Friday 9AM-5PM.

https://findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov/

https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB871

Reasons you can state to oppose S.B. 871:

• Healthy children are not an at-risk population for hospitalization or death from covid-19, they have almost zero risk.

• Reports of adverse effects from Covid-19 vaccines show that children have experienced anaphylactic reactions, blood clotting, Myocarditis, Guillian-Barre Syndrome, and even death, according to the CDC Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS).

• No other vaccine that has been required for the school vaccine schedule has been on the market for less than 6 years, and had been extensively tested for safety before being put on the market.

• Covid vaccines have only recently been approved, through fast-tracked proceedings, and long-term effects are unknown. There is only one recently authorized Covid vaccine for ages 16 and up, on the market in the US.

• S.B. 871 does not allow testing to show whether children who have already had Covid-19 to prove natural immunity, and be exempted from the mandate.

• No personal/religious exemptions are allowed for Covid-19 and all future mandated vaccines which removes the right of parents to control the health and safety of their children, a violation of moral law and civil rights.

PERK Files Lawsuit Against the City of San Diego

ON BEHALF OF HUNDREDS OF FIREFIGHTERS POLICE OFFICERS, AND CITY EMPLOYEES

PERK: Protection of Educational Rights of Kids
Contact: PERK President Amy Bohn
Media Contact: PERKGroupAdmin@protonmail.com

PRESS RELEASE

January 28, 2022

PERK FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST THE CITY OF SAN DIEGO ON BEHALF OF HUNDREDS OF FIREFIGHTERS POLICE OFFICERS, AND CITY EMPLOYEES

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE IN SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, JANUARY 28, 2022- 

On Friday, Jan. 28, 2022, the Protection of the Educational Rights of Kids (PERK), representing hundreds of Firefighters, Police Officers, and City Employees, and three individually named plaintiffs; Jonathan Wiese, Captain Justus Norgood, and Captain Manuel Del Torro, filed a lawsuit against the City of San Diego, for declaratory and injunctive relief, against the unconstitutional vaccine mandate against all first responders and city employees.  These same heroes risked their lives protecting the people of San Diego for decades are now threatened with termination. 

PERK believes that a mass termination of First Responders, Public Workers, and Healthcare workers has severe consequences! Thousands of essential workers would be eliminated from the workplace, depleting and potentially decimating essential services which effectively keep our cities and communities functioning. These mandates devastate the fundamental services, protection, and societal infrastructure necessary for children and families at home, at school, indoors and outdoors, virtually all private and public spaces! The mandate jeopardizes our children’s basic health and well-being, including safety from fires, predators, crime, abuse and lack of emergency medical treatment! To protect our children, families and community-at-large from these potentially devastating consequences, PERK has chosen to engage in this lawsuit.

PERK is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that advocates for civil rights issues, bodily autonomy, medical freedom and issues affecting children and families, and is deeply concerned about the negative impact posed by this mandate. PERK has filed this complaint against San Diego City, in addition to its other lawsuits against Los Angeles County, Granada Hills Charter, The City of Beverly Hills, Los Angeles Unified School District, Piedmont School District, and others.

• The complaint is filed in the Superior Court of the State of California against Defendant, the City of San Diego.

• The plaintiffs are PERK, Jonathan Wiese, Captain Justus Norgood, and Captain Manuel Del Torro.

• PERK, the non-profit named in the complaint, is advocating for these individuals, and hundreds of PERK members in the City of San Diego, and is represented by Attorney Scott J. Street and John Howards of JW Howard/ Attorneys, Ltd.

• Plaintiffs object to the infringement of their rights and want freedom to maintain bodily integrity and not be forced to take a medical treatment as a condition of employment.

• Plaintiffs bring this action to vindicate the Constitution, to protect the careers of Plaintiffs who have risked their lives to protect the people of San Diego, and to protect all City employees from the vaccine mandate.

On Nov. 29, 2021, the City of San Diego, on behalf of President Joe Biden and Governor Gavin Newsom’s plans to use universal vaccination as a way to end the COVID-19 pandemic, adopted an Ordinance- the Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccination Policy, demanding that City employees and certain City contractors “be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and provide proof of their full vaccination,” making vaccination a condition of employment for all employees. 

Plaintiffs contend that their freedom to make their own decisions regarding the potentially risky vaccines, the freedom to maintain their own bodily autonomy and to protect themselves from being forced to take a medical procedure as a condition of employment is of utmost importance and has prompted them to take legal action.

At the beginning of the pandemic, while others sheltered in place, our brave firefighters and police officers -deemed essential workers under the Governor’s orders- stepped to the frontlines of the pandemic, selflessly protecting citizens of this City. They did not shelter in place, nor did they work remotely. 

Many of them contracted and recovered from the COVID-19 virus and performed their duties before any of the COVID-19 vaccines were available. They did not cause any harm to anybody. The City has no evidence of any unvaccinated firefighter or police officer infecting a member of the public with COVID-19. 

Yet the City accused the non-compliant firefighters of being an imminent threat to public health and workplace safety, with no basis for that statement, and have acted aggressively against those firefighters. 

PERK, a 501(c)(3) non-profit advocating for medical freedom, bodily autonomy, children’s and parental rights, is deeply concerned about the negative impact the mandate will have on these individuals, City of San Diego employees, and the children and families of the City of San Diego.  

Plaintiffs are Captain Manuel Del Toro of the San Diego Police Department, with 31 years of service, who opposes the City’s Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccination Policy. He has taken the shot, but believes the mandate infringes on the rights and freedoms City employees have over their own bodies and that the firing of non-compliant police offers will compromise his ability to continue to provide a high level of service to the citizens of San Diego.

Plaintiff Jonathan Wiese, also a San Diego Police Officer, is assigned to the K-9 unit, and has worked for the San Diego Police Department for over 23 years. A local and national hero, Wiese, who previously contracted COVID-19, has natural, durable immunity, and does not want to be administered with any of the currently available Covid vaccines. He submitted a religious exemption that is currently pending.

Plaintiff Justus Norgord is a Captain/Paramedic and Battalion Medical Officer with the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department. He has been a firefighter for 30 years and is opposed to the forced vaccine and has submitted a request for a religious exemption.

These shots haven’t been fully vetted, and evidence shows that despite contrary claims, they are proving to be ineffective against both the infection and transmission of COVID-19, and are causing numerous injuries -even deaths- all while there are feasible and effective alternative treatments available for treating COVID infections.  

Plaintiffs ask for relief: 

• Asking for an order declaring the City Vaccine Mandate void because the City didn’t have the power to issue it, or that the mandate is arbitrary.

• For an order declaring the Mandate unconstitutional because it violates their privacy rights under the California Constitution.

• For an order declaring the City can’t stop paying them without a Skelly hearing, and requirements of Firefighter Bill of Rights and Public Safety Bill of Rights.

• And for injunctive relief, from further enforcing the Vaccine Mandate.

 On behalf of the individual plaintiffs and City of San Diego employees and their families, PERK believes the mandates placed upon them as First Responders and Public Workers completely disregards the science validating natural immunity and violates bodily autonomy as protected by Federal and State discrimination laws, privacy rights and the Nuremberg code.  PERK is extremely concerned that the mandates will directly impact children negatively.  When jobs are threatened, stress, instability, food insecurities, and social chaos increases.  

ABOUT PERK 

Protection of the Educational Rights of Kids: PERK is a California 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation headquartered in California whose mission is to advocate for medical freedom, bodily autonomy, children’s rights, parental rights, civil rights and protect children’s right to an education. PERK has over 20,000 members throughout California, consisting of public employees, first responders, and parents of children attending school, grades K through 12, in California. PERK has thousands of members with children attending school within LA County. Donate to support our efforts https://www.perk-group.com/donate  www.perk-group.com

ABOUT THE PLAINTIFFS:

OFFICER JONATHAN WEISE

One of the Brave plaintiffs in our lawsuit is Jonathan Weise.  He is currently a San Diego Police Officer assigned to the K-9 unit and has been in the department for over 23 years.  He has more 20 awards including recently being awarded the “Carnegie Hero Medal” and the national “Top Cop” award. He has been a strength and leader to the San Diego Community.
1995 M1A1 Tank Crewman Honor Graduate Fort Knox Kentucky/1996 SDPD Cadet Academy Jerry Hartless award/1998 42nd Regional Academy Academic Honor Graduate/1998 42nd Regional Academy Emergency Vehicle Operations Course Honor Graduate/2007 Life Saving Citation/2011 Northeastern Division VFW Officer of the Year/2012 Life Saving Citation/2015 SDPD K-9 Handler of the Year/2019 Honor Guard Member of the Year/2019 SDPD K-9 Handler of the Year
2019 SDPD Officer of the Year/2019 North San Diego Business Chamber of Commerce Hero Award
2020 Heroic Act Award US Lifesaving Association/2020 Medal of Valor CA Surf Lifesaving Association

2020 Medal of Valor California State Firefighters Association/2020 American Red Cross Real Heroes Law Enforcement Award/2020 National Law Enforcement Memorial and Museum Officer of the Month (July)
2020, August 6th Officer Jonathan Wiese Day, San Diego City Council Proclomation/2021 Carnegie Hero Medal/2021 Top Cop, National Association of Police Officers

CAPTAIN JUSTUS NORGORD

Justus Norgord is a Captain/Paramedic for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.  He has worked for 25 years for the City of San Diego which has afforded him many opportunities to get involved with many different areas within the Fire Service.  He is currently one of the most senior Captains on the job.  He was a member of a special team called the STAR (Special Trauma and Response) Team where he performed as a Tactical Paramedic.  He had the great opportunity to work as a Flight Paramedic for our Copter Program.  It was during that time that he also trained with the Coast Guard and responded with the Coast Guard out to sea to rescue those in need.  His career has also included responding all over the state to fight wildfires. 

CAPTAIN MANUEL DEL TORRO

He is a Hispanic male Captain for the San Diego Police Department assigned to Southeastern Patrol Division.  He was born and raised in National City California; just a few miles away from where he currently work.  He has a degree in Criminal Justice from San Diego State University and has dedicated 32 years on the department this fall.  During this time on the department, he simultaneously served in the US Army Reserves and retired with 20 years of service in 2007.  He spent 2004 deployed in Iraq where he was awarded the Bronze Star for his work running convoys in a combat environment throughout Iraq. As a detective, he served in Domestic Violence, Narcotics, Gangs, Child Abuse and Homicide.  Until promoted to a sergeant after almost 20 years on the department.  As a sergeant, he was assigned to Southern Division, Internal Affairs and back to Homicide.  During this four-year tour in Homicide, he was awarded the department’ Officer of the year in 2015 for supervising my team to the highest solving rate in the unit and solving some significant cases throughout the city. He was promoted to Captain after 28 years of service and served at Southern Division and is now currently assigned to Southeastern Division. 

As a Captain, he has seen how the mandates are impacting his officers and the potential to lose more if they are fired over the vaccine mandates.  This directly impacts his ability to provide the high level of SDPD service San Diego citizens have grown to expect will be compromised. 

ABOUT ATTORNEY JOHN HOWARD AND ATTORNEY SCOTT STREET

https://jwhowardattorneys.com

https://jwhowardattorneys.com/team/         

LAWSUIT HIGHLIGHTS:

4- The City, acting as an employer, cannot change conditions of employment with the mandate.

4- The mandate violates privacy rights of city firefighters and police officers.

4- Mandate violates Due Process Clause by cutting off pay, without a hearing, to non-compliant employees.

20- The City didn’t engage in a open-minded review of the facts regarding effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine, and was arbitrary and capricious in making it compulsory for employees.

23- City didn’t consider alternative measures to the violation of the Plaintiff’s right to bodily integrity.

24- This mandate violates the Plaintiff’s Skelly rights to a notice of termination and an opportunity to be heard before a hearing officer, the right to conduct discovery, and the right to be paid during that time.

25- Emergency measures cannot last forever, and the City has an obligation to evaluate necessity of the Vaccine Mandate, looking at real-world data.

26- The City accused non-compliant firefighters of being an imminent threat to public health and workplace safety, but has no evidence for it or for the aggressive adverse actions taken against them.

30- The City, acting as an employer, does not have the authority to unilaterally change the conditions of employment for city firefighters and police officers who are represented by a labor union by adopting the Vaccine Mandate.

31- The Vaccine Mandate, it is arbitrary and irrational. It doesn’t stop the spread of COVID-19.

39- Individuals have a right to privacy under the California Constitution, and the right to protect their bodily integrity.

51- The City does not have the power to put city firefighters and police officers on unpaid leave pending termination proceedings. It must provide them with notice and an opportunity to challenge the action, as per Due Process and the Skelly decision.

52- The City can’t take adverse employment action against them without providing rights under state Firefighter’s Bill of Rights and Public Safety Officers Bill of rights.

Victory in Piedmont Unifed lawsuit!

Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2022

Piedmont Unified School District approved in open session, the revision of Administrative Regulation 5141.31 to remove the COVID-19 vaccination requirement. There is no longer any requirement that Piedmont USD students receive the vaccination to attend class in person.

Piedmont School Board posted:

Approved Revised Administrative Regulation 5141.31 – Immunizations – Throughout the pandemic, the District’s goal remains to keep schools and the community as safe as possible for in-person instruction. The District believes that students benefit exponentially more from an in-person educational experience than an Independent Study Program. Because of this, and our incredibly high vaccination rates, the Superintendent recommended that the Board of Education remove COVID-19 from Board Policy and Administrative Regulation 5141.31 until the California Department of Public Health and the State of California adds it to the list of required immunizations as found in Health and Safety Code and/or by Executive Order of the Governor. At this time, the District finds no educational value in transferring vaccine-hesitant students into an Independent Study program with remarkably high vaccination rate across all campuses. The District reached its goal of keeping our schools and community as safe as possible with a vaccination rate of 98% and is extremely proud of the efforts of our families and students to keep our schools open for in-person learning.

This is a big victory, in addition to our court win against Piedmont. This also has led to a victory in Oakland Unified.

---

Today we got word that Oakland followed Piedmont Unified in pushing back the COVID 19 vaccine mandate.

The school board on Wednesday voted to extend the deadline for its student vaccine requirement, which was previously scheduled to take effect on Jan. 31, to Aug. 1. After that, any unvaccinated student who was 12 or older as of Dec. 1, 2021 and does not have a medical or personal belief exemption will be offered a chance to transfer to OUSD’s Sojourner Truth Independent Study school, and given information about the vaccine and how to get the shot. After multiple warnings, if a student chooses not to go to Sojourner Truth, they’ll be unenrolled from the district.

Oakland Unified pushes back vaccine mandate to the fall semester

School board members on Wednesday night voted to push back the deadline to Aug. 1, Oakland Unified spokesman John Sasaki said. As of Jan. 19, only about 70% of students 12 and older had verified their vaccination status, according to the resolution.

Please consider donating to our legal funds, so that we may continue fighting for your children’s right to an in person education.

PERK Files Lawsuit Against Granada Hills Charter High School on Behalf of Teachers and Educators

PRESS RELEASE

January 19, 2022

PERK Files Lawsuit On Behalf Of Teachers And Educators Of Granada Hills High School 

The First Teachers And Educators in The State Of California Fired For Refusing To Take The Shot

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE IN LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

JANUARY 19, 2022 

On Friday, Jan. 14, 2022, the Protection of the Educational Rights of Kids (PERK) and five individual educators filed a lawsuit against Brian Bauer, Executive Director of Granada Hills Charter High School (GH Charter) and GH Charter.  The plaintiffs filed a complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief, damages based on violations of civil rights, and requested a jury trial. Attorney John Howard and Attorney Scott Street from JW Howard Attorneys, LTD represent the plaintiffs.

The lawsuit, filed at the Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Los Angeles, declares that the vaccine requirement for employees is illegal under state law and federal law, is discriminatory, unconstitutional, a violation of privacy under the California State Constitution, and a violation of the U.S. Constitution 1st amendment religious rights.

PERK is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that advocates for civil rights issues, bodily autonomy, medical freedom and issues affecting children and families, and is deeply concerned about the negative impact posed by this mandate. PERK has filed this complaint against Granada Hills Charter, in addition to its other lawsuits against Los Angeles County, The City of Beverly Hills, Los Angeles Unified School District, Piedmont School District, and others.

Plaintiffs Iris Arnold, Setiawatin Beckman, Angela Karapatyan, Sarah Olczak, Laurie Peachey and PERK allege that Brian Bauer, the executive director of GH Charter unilaterally decided to require that all employees get vaccinated and pressured the school’s governing board to ratify the requirement, which became their official policy. 

Several employees requested religious exemptions, but Bauer denied them. Two of the plaintiffs requested medical exemptions, but he denied those also. Those plaintiffs were then fired. They were placed on administrative leave and were told they could not set foot on campus.  Consequently, by requiring universal vaccinations -with no exceptions- GH Charter became the first public school in the State of CA to terminate employees because of their vaccine mandate.

These plaintiffs are experienced educators, who make a positive impact on thousands of lives, and give their hearts and souls to their students. Yet, out of approximately 500 faculty and staff, 7 employees of GH Charter were fired after being denied religious and medical-based exemptions from the vaccine. They pleaded for their jobs and asked for accommodations that aligned with the Governor’s own policies, but were denied. 

They have been stripped of their positions and are heartbroken to be terminated from their lifelong careers. They have also been denied unemployment benefits. All at a time when students were just adjusting to being back on campus after 17 months of distance learning!  Additionally, the educators and PERK contend that -like all Californians- school employees have a right to bodily integrity and a right to refuse medical treatment.  They also have the right to keep their jobs until given a meaningful opportunity to challenge the termination, which was denied, and is thus a violation of the CA Supreme Court decision Skelly V. State Personnel Board and due process.

Not only were the plaintiffs denied their rights to challenge the mandate, but Mr. Bauer retaliated against the teachers after firing them, by reporting them to state officials, and by calling their non-compliance “misconduct,” preventing them from accessing unemployment benefits. Now, these educators have been fired and denied unemployment benefits. Their credentials are in jeopardy. Even so, they choose to take a stand, to tell the truth, to speak out for individual freedoms rather than take the path of least resistance. 

Covid-19 vaccines shouldn’t be politicized.  They cannot stop the spread of the virus, as the recent surge of Omicron has shown. Despite evidence of waning effectiveness of the shots (they don’t stop infection or transmission) and evidence of significant adverse effects, GH Charter has demanded universal vaccinations for its employees. Their vaccine mandate is a violation of both civil rights and constitutional rights and constitutes religious discrimination under state and federal law.

Lawsuit Here: File Lawsuit Against Granada Hills Charter High School 

ABOUT THE PLAINTIFFS:

Setiawatin (Zeth) Beckman, originally from Indonesia, an experienced and passionate math teacher who arrived in the USA shortly before 9/11/2001, who works with students from all academic levels. 

Dr. Angela Karapetyan is a veteran math teacher who is dedicated to working with the most academically challenged students in special education. She also works with high-achieving students and is the recipient of the medal won at an Academic Decathlon. She moved to the US from Armenia to escape their oppressive political climate.

Sarah Olczak is a counselor with 17 years of experience, 13 of those years served at GH Charter. She was an academic counselor, college counselor, transition counselor and 504 coordinator. She is also a cancer survivor and a staunch supporter of bodily and medical autonomy. 

They seek justice because their constitutional and basic human rights were trampled and disregarded. The lawsuit was filed to hold Mr. Bauer and GH Charter accountable for their unlawful discrimination and violations of the law.   

ABOUT PERK 

Protection of the Educational Rights of Kids: PERK is a California 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation headquartered in California whose mission is to advocate for medical freedom, bodily autonomy, children’s rights, parental rights, civil rights and protect children’s right to an education. PERK has over 20,000 members throughout California, consisting of public employees, first responders, and parents of children attending school, grades K through 12, in California. PERK has thousands of members with children attending school within LA County.

Donate to support our efforts

www.perk-group.com/donate 

www.perk-group.com

ABOUT ATTORNEY JOHN HOWARD AND ATTORNEY SCOTT STREET

https://jwhowardattorneys.com

https://jwhowardattorneys.com/team/