Kindergarten registration - exemption form question

[Skippy918]

Kindergarten registration is coming up in a few weeks. They want us to bring immunization records. DS has been selectively and delayed vaxed. Do I bring the exemption form to registration along with his records? We skipped hep A and B and are delaying the second MMR till he turns 5. I live in Texas so I can use the philosophical exemption, but this is our first time dealing with public school. Anyone know how this works?

[Turquesa]

So long as Texas allows parents to vaccinate selectively, then yes, that's pretty much how it works. You bring in the exemption form with the record. 

I don't know what the exemption form looks like in TX, but be on the look out for what attorneys call "compelled speech," (e.g. "In signing this, I understand that...").  If there's anything they want you to sign on to that makes you feel uneasey, cross it out, intitial it, and replace it with, "It is the position of the TX Health Dept. that..." 

[Skippy918]

My other question was whether the shot sequences had to be done by registration or when school starts? I was planning to complete the MMR and polio on his 5th birthday which is later this year or do I need to finish the series by registration time which is in March? The school requires 2 MMR and 4 polio for kindergarten.

[Turquesa]

I can't C&P a link, but go to www.nvic.org. Click on the link to state laws and look up Texas. It looks like your DS can be provisionally admitted while catching up on the vaxes. (Statute 8.001-e)

My state has the same law. We just sent an updated record to the school each time we did a catch-up vax. You can show your school the statute and ask to work out a similar arrangement.

Even if you register in March, most schools just care that they're caught up before school starts. I take it he'll be 5 by then? If there's an issue, file for philo and catch him up when you're ready.

[IdentityCrisisMama]

My experience in CA was that the school board got really funky about my philosophical exemption form when I told them I selectively vaccinated. If I were you, I would just do the exemption and not mention selective vaccination. If an issue comes up in school with a VPD you can bring your vax records then. 

[Turquesa]

Originally Posted by IdentityCrisisMama 

My experience in CA was that the school board got really funky about my philosophical exemption form when I told them I selectively vaccinated. If I were you, I would just do the exemption and not mention selective vaccination. If an issue comes up in school with a VPD you can bring your vax records then. 

I like this idea!  It's definitely more convenient.  My one concern would be the state vaccine registries, which all 50 states have. At least in my state, school offficials can and do access the vax registry.  So they might raise a red flag if a parent said s/he didn't vax and then showed up in the registry with the full dosing of some vaxxes.  Maybe the trick is to make sure you've opted out of the registry, but not every state gives parents that right.  

[IdentityCrisisMama]

Originally Posted by Turquesa 

I like this idea!  It's definitely more convenient.  My one concern would be the state vaccine registries, which all 50 states have. At least in my state, school offficials can and do access the vax registry.  So they might raise a red flag if a parent said s/he didn't vax and then showed up in the registry with the full dosing of some vaxxes.  Maybe the trick is to make sure you've opted out of the registry, but not every state gives parents that right.  

My child goes to public school and having parented her through 3 public schools and visited countless others...it's VERY difficult for me to imagine public school energy/funding and etc. going towards crossing vax registry with exemption forms. But, it would depend, I suppose, a little on who your forms are submitted to. In DC's CA school registry papers went through a big district process. In Baltimore they are submitted to the individual school directly. 

All that said, filing an exemption for some vaccines or for delayed status isn't "not" a philosophically valid stance so I think if "caught" with my system, you would maybe have some red tape but you wouldn't get your kid kicked out of school. 

Don't know anything about private other than DC's little private pre-K, which would also not have invested energy in this issue...certainly not without discussing concerns with parents first (it was parent run).  

[Skippy918]

Registration was today and apparently they did want all of the paperwork today for a complete enrollment. A provisional enrollment means that he won't get assigned to a class until all the updated forms are submitted. I actually took him to the doctor today for the remaining MMR and polio and then will get the exemption form for the hep A and B and turn all that in to the school nurse. Apparently other parents had issues too even though their kids were following the AAP schedule.

[anj_rn]

I am in Texas as well.  We get the exemption forms from the state (you will have to re-submit them every 2 years).  We exempt out of anything that we are delayed on (because it just makes life easier).  Most schools either want the series complete, or the exemption, so we just file the exemption with everything on it.  Once that is done, the school nurse will not ask for an update until your exemption expires.  You can then update her records with the additional vaxes, or just refile the exemption.  Our doc uses electronic health records, so if we want a complete shot record, we use the form that is printed out.  The paper shot card, we fill out as we complete the series (i.e. so we would not put any Hep B vaxes until the whole series of 3 shots was complete).

It sounds complicated, but it makes life a lot easier, since explaining delayed vaxes to the school nurse is not on my list of things I ever want to do again.  They can not argue with the exemption.

[Turquesa]

ICM, you're probably right about the cross-referencing. I'm sorry they gave you crap about it in CA. It's crazy what a PITA it is to work with schools and selectively vax. I mean, look what the OP went through. It's downright nutso how some states make you choose all or none. You'd think there wouldn't be so many snafus, especially since I suspect most of us using alternative schedules are vaxxing for the diseases that people fear the most, eg measles, polio, and wc.

I wonder why the TX law is set up that way. Maybe they hope you'll change your mind in two years?

[anj_rn]

The two year renewal rule is very old.  It was initially made up so the schools would have to update your files on a regular basis in case a child was later vaccinated or contracted a disease (in which case there was no longer a need for the exemption).  It never got changed, but is not a huge deal, since you can order the exemption forms online, and then you just have to sign them and have them notarized.  

You do not have to file the exemption with the state, just with the school.  Although my pediatrician has one as well for each of my kids.  It protects him if our insurance company wants to audit his medical records and see our kids are not fully vaxed.

[Skippy918]

That's interesting anj_rn. I ordered 5 forms and have 1 filled out ready to submit.