Mandatory injections and testing were barreling toward reality in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) until attorneys Nicole Pearson, Jessica Barsotti and Rita Barnett-Rose, representing Protecting the Educational Rights of Kids (PERK) and Children’s Health Defense (CHD), stepped in.
The attorneys recently scored a victory for medical choice when, in the midst of a court battle with LAUSD, the school district’s board of trustees changed course and announced that their vaccine requirement would be suspended until further reconsideration in August 2022. LAUSD is the largest school district in California and the second-largest in the nation, with more than 430,000 students.
“The result we achieved was to avoid [having] any other student from getting basically shunted onto a remote learning program that’s already overwhelmed,” Pearson said.
She is referring to LAUSD’s now-suspended plan to funnel more than 30,000 students, whose families chose for them not to receive COVID shots, into an at-home study program called City of Angels School. It is unclear how the online program could handle between 34,000 and 36,000 additional children while maintaining educational standards.
“Children’s Health Defense and PERK were the two organizations that spearheaded this lawsuit,” Pearson told the Guardian. “They actually stood in the shoes of tens of thousands of California families with children in school, and became the plaintiffs, and sued on behalf of all of those families.”
Pearson’s law firm, Facts Law Truth Justice (FLTJ), is playing an integral role in reversing what their website calls “unconstitutional, illegal, unethical, immoral and potentially lethal COVID-19 vaccine requirement[s].”
“It’s really sad to see that this is the state of our schools,” said Pearson of the mask and vaccine mandates. “What our government has done is pit parents against each other. And that’s not the way it should be.”
Her legal team notched another victory in Northern California’s Alameda County, where Piedmont Unified School District was attempting to require COVID inoculations for all children five years and older. Though personal exemptions could be applied for, no instructional accommodations were to be provided for families who refused the shot.
“They actually didn’t have an independent study option even available. It was pretty horrifying,” said Pearson.
The groups host town hall meetings up and down the state to give parents action steps, offering ways to advocate for their kids. Regular training sessions equip moms and dads.
PERK and CHD teamed up with two Piedmont Unified parents to sue the school district for the unreasonable policy.
After hearing arguments, Judge Brad Seligman “ruled that he did not think that Piedmont Unified School District or any school district in California, really, had the authority to add the shot to the list at this time,” Pearson said. The initial ruling would “prevent the district from enforcing the requirement until we could go to court.”
This freeze on the policy, a victory in itself, was followed by a complete reversal.
“When they realized they were likely going to lose in a few days, they voted to strike the COVID-19 vaccine requirement,” said Pearson.
Other school districts are catching on. The day after Piedmont repealed the requirement, Oakland Unified also voted to postpone its vaccine mandate.
“I think we really shone a light on the issues with these policies and resolutions,” Pearson said.
Kids Call the Shots?
Medical freedom advocates find themselves in another battle with recently proposed legislation and are sounding the alarm about Senate Bills 866 and 871, both introduced in January.
Senate Bill 866 allows students as young as 12 years old to be administered any shot approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and ACIP (Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices) without the knowledge or consent of parents.
Similarly, Senate Bill 871 proposes making COVID “vaccines” mandatory for school-aged children along with other increased requirements. The bill excludes any kind of religious, medical or personal exemptions for children opting out of the COVID mRNA treatment or the hepatitis B vaccine in 7th grade. Exemptions for any future CDPH-approved vaccines would be null under this legislation. The bills are slated to be heard in early March.
“Start Speaking Up and Stop Complying”
In the meantime, Facts Law Truth Justice is collaborating with other medical freedom advocacy groups such as California Freedom Keepers, A Voice for Choice, and Educate Advocate. Pearson and her team give these groups valuable legal analysis.
“We’re part of strategy calls with them on how to analyze and take these bills apart, how to respond, how to communicate effectively with legislators and raise awareness on issues,” she says.
“If we want these to end, then people need to get involved and start speaking up and stop complying. That’s how we win this war.”
The groups host town hall meetings up and down the state to give parents action steps, offering ways to advocate for their kids. Regular training sessions equip moms and dads to say, in Pearson’s words, “That’s it. We’re not doing it. You want to abuse our kids? We’re not going to let you anymore, and we’re certainly not going to abuse them ourselves.”
Information on times and dates is available on the CA Freedom Keepers’ social media pages and at the Facts Truth Law Justice site.
Meanwhile, Pearson has other lawsuits pending which challenge masks, vaccines and the so-called “state of emergency.”
“There’s no state of emergency,” she says. “If there’s no state of emergency, there’s no mandates. Emergency mandates don’t exist, whether it’s shot requirements or mask requirements. Everyone keeps acting like they’re valid exercises of authority, and they’re not.”
While she is seeing victories in the legal realm, the real power, Pearson says, is in the hands of the people.
“If we want these to end, then people need to get involved and start speaking up and stop complying. That’s how we win this war,” she says. “We’re doing the best we can and with great success, but [the lawsuits] take longer. We’re up against behemoths, and if people want this to end, they need to stop complying right now.”
Pearson challenges parents to take a stand for their children.
“[Los Angeles] held the Super Bowl. No one there was wearing a mask,” she says. “Then everyone turned around the next day and put their kids in masks. I mean, what kind of message is that to the government, to the people in power? The message is that they can do whatever they want, and we’re not going to say anything; we’re just going to take it.”
Pearson and her fellow attorneys are doing their part to remind parents and Californians of all kinds “You have a constitutional, legal authority to disregard their illegal, unconstitutional exercises of power and vote them out. … That’s what it’s going to take. People have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Because I guarantee you, your kids are more uncomfortable than you are.”
