The Highwire with Del Bigtree - LAUSD BACKS AWAY FROM VACCINE MANDATE

Episode Date: December 21, 2021

The Director of Protection of the Educational Rights for Kids (PERK), Amy Bohn, fills Del in on the huge win her organization along with Children’s Health Defense have claimed on vaccine mandates.#PERK #ChildrensHealthDefense #LAUSDMandateBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-highwire-with-del-bigtree--3620606/support.

We have really spectacular news to announce. Of course, the vaccine rollout, Gavin Newsom raised his victory, fist in the air as soon as they started talking about a vaccine for children. He wanted to give it to everybody. But here it goes. LA becomes the first major school district to mandate COVID vaccines for students, setting stage for national battle. Well, this battle has just come crashing down. LAUSD, here is the headline now. LAUSD delays enforcement of COVID-19 vaccine mandate for students.

It's official the Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education agreed Tuesday to delay enforcement of its COVID-19 vaccine mandate for students until the fall of 2022. God knows where we'll be by that time. Preventing more than 30,000 students from being forced into online independent study that weren't going to get the vaccine no matter what. Now, we showed you the images of so many of you, out there standing, marching, you know, trying to be heard, and certainly you must be, you know, give yourselves a pat on the back, hold a champagne glass in the air this week because you have achieved

what many thought was impossible. But beyond those parents, there's so many ways that we are attacking this. It's also important that we are in courtrooms. And in this case, we had both Perk and Children's Health Defense working together in a lawsuit against L-A-USD. protecting children's rights to an education. The founder and head of Perk joins me right now, Amy Bond. Amy, we were talking about this just a couple of weeks ago. You said you guys were fighting like hell in L.A. What happened with the court case and how much do you think that affected the decision by L.A.USD?

Thank you for having me on today, Dale. I'm so excited to be here and talk about this. So basically, we filed a lawsuit in October, so Perk and CHD. California. And then last week was our court hearing on Wednesday. So just here's the timing. Wednesday was our court hearing. And the judge actually did not make a final ruling on our case on Wednesday. Our legal team, Jessica Bersani, Nicole Pearson and Rita Barnett Rose, they came in with amazing legal arguments, including how problematic putting 34,000 children into this independent study program would be because it's understaffed, it's subpar, and there's a lot of problems. So

anyways, the judge did not make a final ruling on the case on Wednesday. But to be clear, LAUSD was in that courtroom hearing the arguments against them, right? Which is part of what this is all about. Okay, cool. Yes, they were on Zoom. I'll say they're on Zoom. So maybe that's why this all happened in our favor. I don't know. But so then on Friday, less than 48 hours, from that court hearing on Wednesday, we saw the first announcements coming from LUSD through robocalls and emails to the parents that they were intending to vote on suspending

the vaccination deadline until fall of 2022 for all those students. I mean, this is like 34,000 students. There's a lot of children. And so that was the first moment we were like, did we just potentially win, you know, pushing back? And then on Tuesday was there

official day that they voted. So around, I think it was about 3 o'clock, we got the news via social media from one of the official board members and they made the announcement that they were officially suspending the vaccination mandate and deadline for the children until the fall of September.

So 2022. So we just, can you imagine, this is California. So yeah, this is the biggest school district in the entire state. And of course, the second biggest in the 10th, country. So I mean, this is just this most incredible victory for the parents that held strong, you know, the legal team, our team, you know, CHD, California, everybody, you, like, everybody that's been a part of this for so long, it's a, it's a victory for the medical freedom

movement. And we are certain, well, I mean, I guess I do have to say this. We are really pretty sure that our lawsuit had a significant impact on this decision. So we'll take credit. I think you're right. Did the judge ever end up giving a final ruling? He did give a final ruling around the same time as LUSD made their announcement. The judge came out denying our preliminary injection, which we actually anticipated that, considering that the mandate is being pushed. The deadline is being pushed. But our lawsuit will continue. So this is just, you know, one part of it, but it's a huge, huge victory.

And we are so excited. Well, and the reason I want to bring that up is, it shows that it doesn't always just take winning a case to achieve the goal, which is to bring that pressure. And for those of you out there, I've said this from the beginning, if you're affluent, you're a person with means, don't just roll over on these cases, whether it's your employer or maybe your child in school. Bringing these lawsuits puts their feet to the fire. And in the end, if enough people do that, it becomes difficult. And they start seeing both financial interest at, you know, at play. And many of these arguments, when you finally put them in front of a judge,

don't sound so good. And I think they start saying themselves, hey, do I want to be a part of that? Do I want to be a part of denying education to 34,000 people? And meanwhile, don't forget that the news is telling them constantly that they need a fourth booster shot coming up in the future. So they've got to be losing confidence in their argument to begin with. Amy Bond, it's amazing. It's fantastic to know that you're out there. Perk is out there, children's health defense. You know, we have a case in San Diego. We've got a couple other in California. We're waiting to get some decisions on there, but it's going to take all of us. And it's really awesome to know that there are other great groups out there with great lawyers out there. So give my best to your legal team for

doing such an outstanding job and continue to do that great work. And California is lucky to have you. Oh, thank you so much. Yeah, we were, LUSD has $300 million, by the way, for their legal fees. So their funding is just enormous. So for all of us to come in here and to make a difference. It just shows you that everyone can make a difference. I'm just so excited. Thank you for having me. Absolutely. If you want to help the other legal cases that Perks got going on, certainly visit their website. They're doing important work. This is how we make a difference. There it is www. perk-group.com and find out more about what they're doing. Amy Baum, you're a hero. So is your legal team. So is CHD. Keep up the good work, okay? Thank you. So much. Good to see you again.

All right. Good to see you. Take care. that clip, then be sure to check out our live broadcast of the High Wire every Thursday morning at 11 a.m. Pacific Time. You can watch it on iTunes and Twitter. We'll see you there.