SFUSD superintendent warns students without Tdap proof may be turned away before Sept. 15 deadline

Superintendent Carlos Garcia told the Board of Education the district is enforcing a new state law that requires students in grades seven through twelve to have proof of a Tdap (whooping cough) booster on file, and he warned students may be excluded from school if they do not provide documentation by the district deadline.

"The deadline for the booster shot is this week and that's this Thursday, September 15," Superintendent Garcia said, urging families to contact their regular health care provider or call 311 for clinic information. He said notices have gone to parents since March and the district made additional phone calls and letters this summer and a districtwide notice the day before the meeting.

Garcia framed the notice as a last effort to avoid lost instructional time: "We do not want to turn away students from school … especially when we've already lost about 300 minutes of instruction by the reduction of the school year." He asked school staff and families to make arrangements quickly so students are not excluded.

The district provided no count in the meeting of how many students remain without the booster proof; board members asked staff to provide more granular, school-level compliance figures electronically so they could understand whether low-compliance percentages represent a few students or hundreds at particular sites.