includes 450 schools serving kindergarten students and 176 schools serving seventh graders with low vaccination rates. Fifty-six of the schools serve both grade levels. Another 39 schools failed to file a vaccination report with the state.
More than half of Oakland Unified's 48 elementary schools and eight of its schools serving seventh graders are on the audit list for 2022-23. This includes Markham Elementary where 65% of the 66 kindergarten students were not fully vaccinated last school year. The school had the highest percentage of kindergartners in California's traditional public schools -- with over 20 students -- who were not fully vaccinated.
The state's vaccination rate, which had grown steadily since the state eliminated personal belief exemptions in 2015, plunged in the months after the Covid-19 pandemic closed schools. Thousands of California students were unable to start the school year in 2022 because they did not have their immunizations.
A vaccination audit has been part of the state's annual financial and compliance audit of public schools since the 2021-22 school year, according to the California Department of Public Health. That year the vaccination audit found that 45 school districts did not meet state vaccination requirements. Seventeen were further reviewed for potentially allowing students to attend school unvaccinated, said Scott Roark, spokesperson for the California Department of Education.
Of all California schools, Agnes J. Johnson Charter School in Humboldt County had the highest percentage of kindergartners who were not fully vaccinated last school year. Ninety percent of the 11 kindergartners still needed at least one vaccine. Mountain Home Charter in Oakhurst had the second-highest percentage of kindergartners -- 83% -- who were not fully vaccinated, followed by Gorman Learning Center -- 76% -- serving 140 kindergarten students in the San Bernardino and Santa Clarita areas.
Community Outreach Academy isn't the only school in the Gateway Community Charter system on the audit list. Community Collaborative School, which offers both in-person and online instruction, had 39% of its kindergartners and 14% of its 42 seventh-grade students not fully vaccinated last fall.
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