13 Students Barred from Local Middle Schools for Lack of Booster Shots

Despite a 30-day grace period, 13 students in the local K-8 school district have yet to provide proof of the Tdap booster shot or an immunization waiver and have been barred from classes, district officials say.

“Parents had been notified and provided information on where to obtain a free or low-cost vaccine,” said David Kinzel, La Mesa-Spring Valley School District coordinator of student intervention.

Only one student in La Mesa—at Parkway Middle School—was missing the whooping cough shot as of Monday, Kinzel said Thursday.

But a dozen students—six each at La Presa and Spring Valley middle schools—are being denied entrance under the new state law.

“Students are excluded from school until the waiver or proof of the immunization are provided,” Kinzel said. “Each day of absence is ‘unexcused’ and truancy letters are sent after three, six and nine days of unexcused absence at which time Student Attendance Review Board process begins.”

Kinzel noted that the Tdap requirement has been widely publicized since last winter, “and there really is no reason why students have yet to comply.”

La Mesa Middle School has 100 percent compliance, district figures show, with all 704 students accounted for. However, 19 students at that school have submitted belief waivers, the district says.

At Helix Charter High School, 125 students were out of compliance a month after the Aug. 10 start of school, said executive director Ran Goyal.

“[But] due to the blackout, these students had essentially a three-day weekend to become compliant to the law. On Monday, only 20 students were still out of compliance. Students who came to school were sent home.”

On Tuesday, only one student was not compliant, she said, but now everyone is.

Grossmont High School and other noncharter schools in the Grossmont Union High School District have until Oct. 6 to get everyone vaccinated against pertussis, said district spokeswoman Catherine Martin.

“We continue to work with our school sites and parents to attain full compliance with the new law,” Martin said Wednesday. “This week, GUHSD is offering clinics in conjunction with Walgreens, and we’re in the process of arranging upcoming future clinics through County Public Health as the [Oct. 6] deadline approaches.”

Kinzel of the La Mesa-Spring Valley district said: “We also have a few refusing to comply because they believe the government has overstepped its bounds and are refusing to obtain the vaccine or sign the waiver as a matter of principle.”

For the K-8 district as a whole, 55 students—or 2.1 percent of the middle-school population of 2,653—have been allowed to skip the vaccinations, Kinzel said.

Parkway Middle had the highest number of opt-outs: 21 (2.6 percent), followed by La Mesa Middle (19 or 2.7 percent), Spring Valley Middle (10 or 1.6 percent) and La Presa Middle (5 or 1 percent).
 
According to state officials:

Under a new state law, SB 614, schools have the option of allowing students in the 7th through 12th grades to conditionally attend classes for up to 30 calendar days after their first day of the 2011-12 school year before meeting their requirement for a whooping cough booster (Tdap).

This option for conditional attendance will assist schools that need additional time to gather records on their students. To exercise this option, the county Office of Education or school district must work with the pupil’s parent or guardian so that the pupil receives the Tdap booster.

Students will face exclusion from classes if they have not met the vaccine requirement by their school’s deadline.

As pertussis continues to occur at high levels in California, unimmunized adolescents remain at risk of becoming ill, missing school and spreading pertussis to their fellow students, households and communities. CDPH urges schools, health care providers, and the public to continue their efforts to protect students against pertussis this summer.