School board election front-runners express thoughts on protecting unvaccinated students
NORWALK — The Norwalk La-Mirada Unified School District special election results show that Narcis Brasov and Dr. Robert Cancio are the front-runners for the two available seats on the school board. As of July 23, Brasov holds 32.02% of the votes while Cancio holds 29.94% of the votes.
As Brasov and Cancio feel confident they will win the election, cases of the highly contagious COVID-19 Delta variant are rising in California. The variant now accounts for 84% of cases in Los Angeles County.
The district plans to return to full in-person learning on Aug. 12, but students under 12-years-old are still ineligible for the vaccine.
The Delta variant is 60% more contagious than the original virus, and more dangerous among the unvaccinated. Vaccinated individuals are less likely to be hospitalized than people who have not received a vaccine.
Brasov, a lawyer and former Norwalk High School teacher, believes that the experts and county guidelines should determine the best course of action.
“We can’t be epidemiologists and come up with our own ideas,” says Brasov. “It’s not our area of expertise. So we will follow the county protocols and let the experts determine how to best protect the kids.”
Cancio, a veteran and doctor with a Ph.D. from the University of Miami, says that he will follow the superintendent’s plan for the semester.
“The superintendent’s plan is following the LA County of Public Health directive and the CDC recommendations,” said Cancio. “I feel confident that we will be able to go back to a safe environment for students, staff, and teachers.”
The front-runners disagreed on the idea of a vaccine drive. Similar to the blood-drive held occasionally during the school year, healthcare workers would administer the COVID-19 vaccine to eligible students with parental consent.
“It’s very easy for kids to forge a letter, I’ve seen it in high school,” said Brasov. “Verifying parental consent would be very tricky and unreliable. I would say no for that reason, because I’m not sure we could accurately verify consent.”
Cancio is open to the idea, but says he will wait and see if a vaccine-drive has community support.
“The county and other healthcare organizations are doing a good job with vaccine drives. If it has support from the community, then I don’t see why not,” said Cancio.
The two candidates did agree that anyone who is eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine should get vaccinated.
“With the amount of data we have, there have been favorable results. I would recommend getting vaccinated,” said Dr. Cancio.
Brasov recommended that people talk to their doctor if they have concerns about the vaccine, or if they have a health condition that would make them ineligible to take the shot.
“I personally know people with rare blood disease that the vaccine is contraindicated for,” said Brasov. “If you have concerns, talk to your doctor. I did, because I had recently recovered from COVID. He recommended I get vaccinated, and I’m glad I did.”
The NLMUSD school board election results will be confirmed on Aug. 2, once the final ballots are counted and certified.