Dr. César Morales, Ventura County Superintendent of Schools, today applauded a new move by the State of California to require all school employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or undergo weekly testing. “With the continuing spread of the highly contagious Delta variant, this is a commonsense step that will help ensure the safety of students and employees as schools reopen for the new year,” said Dr. Morales. “Most school employees are already vaccinated, and I’m confident others will now follow suit.”

The new state policy was announced today by Governor Gavin Newsom. It requires teachers and all other school employees to either show proof of vaccination or submit COVID-19 test results on a weekly basis. The California Department of Public Health has posted information about what qualifies as proof of vaccination at this link.

According to the State, the new policy will take effect August 12, 2021, and schools must be in full compliance by October 15, 2021. The particulars of how the policy will be implemented and enforced are still being worked out. “Leaders in each of our local school districts will be working with their school boards and labor partners on how vaccination status and test results will be collected,” Dr. Morales said. “I’ve been in touch with Ventura County Public Health about ways to accommodate the increased need for testing that this policy will require.”

Oak Park Unified School District was the first Ventura County district to begin the 2021-2022 school year on Monday. The Mupu, Santa Paula Unified and Simi Valley Unified school districts all reopened today. All remaining local school districts will have started their school years by August 25. You can find a list of start dates for all local school districts, links to local vaccination and testing locations, and more information about COVID-19 and Ventura County public schools at www.vcoe.org/covid-19.