So far, no vaccine mandates for high schools

What about San Mateo County public high schools? As of Monday, there were no indications that local public secondary schools would consider following suit.

Instead, officials governing those campuses are mandating the wearing of masks indoors (regardless of inoculation status) along with other protective measures, but not vaccinations, the clearly preferred means of warding off the virus.

According to Nancy Magee, the county’s superintendent of schools, these authorities are not able to order vaccinations for one and all because secondary education for teens is compulsory, not voluntary like college-level schooling.

As she put it last week, “Mandating vaccinations for our students would take legislation.” So far, such a move has not been forthcoming from the halls of Sacramento.

Peter Feng, a spokesman for the South San Francisco Unified School District, added further clarification. He said vaccines for high school students aren’t being required because they haven’t been officially approved by the FDA and because the shots are not universally available to all students.

Magee’s Redwood Shores office has been in the forefront of the effort to inoculate students and school employees, both public and private, since the vaccine push began earlier this year.

Some schools have hosted inoculation clinics for students and others.

Unions representing public school employees, including the California Teachers Association, have not sought a vaccine mandate (or passport) for their rank and file, although they are strongly recommending the jab to their members.

Countywide, public high schools educate about 27,000 teens. Most of them are enrolled on 17 comprehensive campuses located from Pacifica and Daly City to Atherton and Pescadero.

The county’s private and parochial high schools embrace another 3,500 pupils.

AN ANTIBODIES ADDENDUM: It’s possible to get a reasonably accurate handle on a useful figure for San Mateo County residents who have protective COVID antibodies in their systems 19 months into the pandemic.

From statistics provided by the county’s public health officials, it’s clear that 89.6% of people aged 12 and above (597,292) have received at least one vaccine injection, as of Tuesday.

The numbers indicated that 56,509 folks have tested positive for the disease; there have been 44,938 actual confirmed cases of the virus. What’s more, there are probably more untested and unvaccinated residents who had a mild form of the ailment and don’t know it. 

All of those statistics, taken together (even assuming significant duplication), would tend to show that, without a doubt, the rate of those with antibodies here is extremely high.

FRESH LOOK AT SHIRLEY JACKSON: For Shirley Jackson, critical and commercial appreciation for her writing skills did not come easily. She labored for years in relative obscurity.

Jackson had local roots. She spent three years at Burlingame High School in the early 1930s and moved east with her family prior to her senior year and remained there during her literary career.

Jackson is perhaps best known for her paranormal tale, “The Haunting of Hill House,” which also was made into a movie. But her work spanned much more than that.

During her relatively brief career (she died in 1965 at the age of 48), she penned dozens of magazine pieces, novels, short stories, letters and other correspondence.

Recently, there has been renewed interest in Jackson. Two books have focused on her legacy: “The Letters of Shirley Jackson,” edited by Laurence Jackson Hyman (Jackson’s son), and “The Shirley Jackson Collection,” a two-volume set edited by Joyce Carol Oates and updated by Ruth Franklin. 

The Jackson revival took on a bit more relevance last weekend during a guided stroll through Burlingame High; it was part of the San Mateo County Historical Association’s annual Victorian Days walking tours.

Jackson was referred to as one of the school’s outstanding (and unsung) alums. Most in attendance were not aware of her or her impressive body of work. Yours truly was glad to set the record straight at that event.

Contact John Horgan by email at johnhorganmedia@gmail.com.