LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — The Yuba Community College District Board of Trustees on Thursday approved a new policy that will require COVID-19 vaccinations or regular testing for students, faculty, staff and volunteers.
At the end of the hour-and-a-half-long special meeting, the trustees voted to direct interim Chancellor James Houpis to develop and implement a COVID vaccine/testing requirement to increase vaccination rates for students, faculty, volunteers and staff, to be in place by the spring semester.
Six of the trustees voted for the policy, while the seventh, Jesse Ortiz, abstained.
Ortiz had sought to amend the proposed policy by requiring vaccination with no exceptions outside of the government requirements for religious and medical exemptions, but Trustee Dennise Burbank, who had offered the motion, didn’t agree to the change.
By taking the action, the Yuba Community College District joins 37 other community college districts in California that have adopted vaccine mandates for students and staff, with another district implementing a vaccination mandate just for students, district officials reported.
The other community college district that serves Lake County, the Mendocino-Lake Community College District, does not require students and employees to be vaccinated, but it is offering incentive programs.
On Aug. 12, the Yuba College trustees voted unanimously to direct the district’s leadership team to develop a vaccine and testing requirement recommendation protocol and resolution for the board's consideration in response to rising case rates across the district’s service area, which includes Lake County, as Lake County News has reported.
The cost to carry out the program is estimated at $3,465,000, including testing, student incentives, marketing, technology and staffing, including hiring four COVID tracers and a COVID manager to oversee the effort.
“This is not a vaccine mandate,” Houpis told the board during the special Thursday afternoon session.
Rather, he said it’s a requirement to either be vaccinated or have weekly testing.
Houpis also emphasized that it’s not a political issue, as people from both major political parties are encouraging vaccinations.
He said it’s disheartening that herd immunity hasn’t been achieved in 20 months, and pointed out that 35,000 people in the district’s eight county service area have been infected and more than 500 people have died during that time from an illness that is, for the most part, preventable.
With vaccination rates low for college-age individuals and college students representing a significant source of transition, and with the highly contagious Delta variant spreading, Houpis said it was incumbent on the district to move forward with a policy.
The longer it takes to move toward herd immunity, the more likely a new variant will come along that’s more contagious and deadly, Houpis said.
The plan Houpis and district leadership staff presented would require that all faculty, staff, administrators and volunteers be vaccinated effective Dec. 1, with a vaccination deadline of Jan. 24 — which also is the first day of the spring semester — for all students.
Those who don’t adhere to those deadlines must be tested weekly in order to be on district-owned or controlled premises or to participate in district activities for an extended amount of time.
Students who don’t get vaccinated also have the option of staying on distance learning.
At the same time, face coverings must be worn by everyone in all indoor settings, regardless of vaccination status.
Due to enforcement challenges, the district will require visitors to wear masks but won’t extend the vaccine or testing mandate to them. Vendors will be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
In tracking that vaccination and testing information the policy will require the district to collect, it must follow the Confidentiality of Medical Information Act, or CMIA. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, does not generally apply to schools.
Based on the timelines for implementing the program, the district’s new vaccination tracking system prototype must be in testing by Oct. 15, with that testing to be complete by Oct. 29 and in production from Nov. 12 to 14, as registration for the fall semester starts Nov. 15. The contact tracing system must be in production by Sept. 30, and ready to integrate with vaccine records by Jan. 24.
Ortiz said testing is not an alternative to vaccination, pointing to more than 600,000 Americans who have died from COVID-19.
He said people of color are disproportionately affected by the virus, adding that 70% of the district’s students are people of color. “Either we're in this all the way or we're not.”
Trustee David Wheeler also suggested a very strong policy with exceptions only for medical reasons.
Jake Hurley, associate vice chancellor of human resources, said the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission allows the district to mandate vaccinations for staff, but they must offer medical and religious exemptions, which the policy presented to the board does.
However, Hurley noted that people who don’t want to get vaccinated will exploit those loopholes. “That’s the reality.”
Ultimately, the board agreed to go with the policy staff presented, requiring vaccination or testing.
A concern voiced during the meeting was whether or not the district’s enrollment, which has been in decline, could see further drops because of the policy.
However, it also was suggested that the policy may increase enrollment as students — eager to get back to face-to-face instruction — feel safer being back on campus.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.