Students at a school in Los Angeles were corralled behind police tape on school grounds by the vice principal for being unvaccinated, the Daily Caller reported Wednesday.
According to the Caller, the New West Charter (NWC) School students said they were forced to choose between an “inadequate” online education or in-person learning after they refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19. When the students attempted to return to school after winter break with negative COVID-19 testing results, they were “corralled” behind police tape at school by the school’s vice principal.
“Six students returned for in-person learning on Jan. 18 and were told that a negative COVID test was insufficient; they were subsequently placed in a designated unvaccinated area outside of the school building,” the report stated. The school reportedly implemented a policy on Oct. 26 that students would be required to be vaccinated by Dec. 28.
Two students, Ellah Nahum and Ella Goring, told the Caller that the school created a two-step process to check students’ vaccination status as they entered the building for the first time after winter break. The first checkpoint required students to show a recent negative COVID-19 test results. The second checkpoint asked students to show their vaccination status.
“The first checkpoint asked for proof of a negative COVID test and the second asked students to show their vaccination status. Nahum and Goring told people at the second checkpoint that they had proof of a negative COVID test and were not vaccinated.
Nahum and Goring said they ‘anticipated’ getting escorted outside, but did not expect their vice principal to corral them behind police tape. The girls alleged that the school refused to let them inside to use the restroom or provide chairs for them to sit on.
‘It was the most peaceful protest ever,’ Nahum told the Daily Caller.
The duo recorded themselves, as well as four other students who were forced to sit outside on the ground. Nahum and Goring told the Daily Caller that they wanted to serve as ‘role models’ for other students on campus, though they feel ostracized by many of their peers.
‘We’re being threatened to be suspended because we don’t have the COVID-19 vaccine,’ Nahum said. ‘We’re being closed off by this caution tape-like thing. We’re being segregated from the rest of the school.’”
A video of the students behind the police tape was shared to Twitter.
Unvax students at New West Charter LA segregated behind barriers & not allowed to attend class. They asked for chairs, were denied & are sitting on the pavement, not allowed to even use restroom. LAPD is on site but not intervening. Litigation from Let Them Choose already pending pic.twitter.com/hgCI97HYv1
— LET THEM BREATHE (@letthem_breathe) January 18, 2022
The students told the Caller that the Los Angeles Police Department was called to the scene. Parents and students were reportedly told in December that unvaccinated students would be disenrolled if they were not vaccinated and did not enroll in the schools remote learning program. The school does not provide a medical exemption provision for the vaccine.