My Experience with my child's school re: vax - Page 9

[Tracy]

[13moons]

bumpitybumpbump

[Tracy]

[box_of_rain]

Vermont

Haven't seen any fellow Vermonters yet!

In VT we have Religious and Philosophocal exemptions.

My experience with my older son, who is partially vaxed, was easy. He was in the Headstart program, and then we homeschooled. Headstart seemed content wit the minimal vax's he had and never made an issue of it - surprisingly. When we homeschooled, we never had to submit proof of vaxes. In VT, the homeschooling process is pretty "hands-off" - at least it was three-four years ago.

He's been enrolled in an independent school (this will be year 3 for him there) and I was pleasently surprised on the admission form - they asked for immunisation record OR exemption!

[Tracy]

bump...isn't august national vax month or something stuuuuupid like that..? sigh.

[LongIsland]

Originally Posted by Tracy

bump...isn't august national vax month or something stuuuuupid like that..? sigh.

http://www.cdc.gov/nip/events/niam/default.htm

[mama4gals]

Thank you thank you thank you!

Liz (Virginia mom)

[gottabeliever]

You guys, I am so happy! We registered my oldest child for kindergarten today with our religious exemption (thank you Long Island). The school secretary didn't bat an eye; as a matter of fact, she was downright friendly about it! This has been looming over my head all summer (well, actually, for years) and it has turned out just fine. I just wanted to share my good news. Thanks to everyone here for keeping me on track, especially when I wanted to give in to "authority" sometimes.

Love,
Me and My Unvaxed Kiddos....

[Tracy]

Bump

[Shirelle]

Texas

My son is enrolled in a cooperative preschool program that is for children with special needs. He attends a private daycare (YMCA-run), and an ISD teacher co-teaches his class with a YMCA teacher. We had to register him with both places. The ISD registration went very smoothly. They did have to look up the "rules", and they said they'd never seen that form before, but they did not hassle me. I only had one notarized copy of my exemption with me that day, and I asked if there was any way that they could just take a copy of it (so that I could give the notarized one to YMCA) but they said that by law, they had to keep the notarized copy. They made a copy of my exemption for the YMCA, and fortunately, the YMCA didn't bat an eye at the copy of the exemption form. No problems, and no questions--thank goodness!

Getting the forms in the first place was remarkably easy. I sent off for them on Monday, and I had them in my mailbox by Thursday.

[cassiemc]

Georgia~
We enrolled our oldest in public school this year. We are required to provide a notarized letter stating that we are claiming a religious exemption. The school also had me sign another form and they notarized it there. Nothing major and I read it all. It really was no trouble. We also had him in a private church preschool before and had no problem with the exemption either

[Tracy]

bump.

[chlobo]

I just submitted paperwork to a private preschool last week. Haven't heard back as to whether or not they will accept the exemption.

[mama4gals]

Virginia

Turned in the religious exemption form (notarized) to the 6th grade teacher, and she said she'd get it to the nurse. That was a week and a half ago, and haven't heard anything. No news is good news, right?

Liz

[Emmeline II]

Originally Posted by LadyButler

We have religious and medical exemptions here. It does say you're supposed to be part of a recognized church whose tenets dictate non-vaccination, but they don't ask.

Maybe because they can't require that you belong to a recognized church whose tenets dictate non-vaccination or that clergy sign your form (US Supreme Court ruling); though they can ask you to explain your beliefs like NY does.

[LongIsland]

Originally Posted by i'mmykid'$mom

Maybe because they can't require that you belong to a recognized church whose tenets dictate non-vaccination or that clergy sign your form (US Supreme Court ruling); though they can ask you to explain your beliefs like NY does.

The states with the "recognized church/denomination" or "clergy" language didn't bother to change their laws to reflect the current consitutional .

It's easier to create a preprinted exemption form containing the language rather than go through the trouble of amending the law. Unless there was a specific lawsuit in that state, they are not likely to remove the language - those states just offer the forms so that there is no room for schools to challenge the exemptions.

In NY, they had to remove the "recognized religion" language because they feared another lawsuit.

[myjulybabes]

Missouri here--

Ds was fully vaxxed, but after further research, decided to pass on the 5 yr old boosters, don't know how much that matters in how well recieved the exemption is.

Anywho, so far so good-- dh found the exemption form online, printed it out, I filled it out. Just had to check off that it's a religious exemption, he's exempt from all vaccines (you can be selective if you chose), and that yes, I understand that he can be required to stay home if there's an outbreak of vax preventable illness at the school.

We meant to turn it in at kindergarten open-house but things got hectic and we forgot (WHY do they schedule those things at dinner time?), so we just sent it in his folder on the first day of school. Haven't heard a peep in a week and a half, so I'm guessing they're ok with it.

[Tracy]

bump.... (It is the season by the way)

[13moons]

le bump

[muldey]

RI

I used a religious exemption for both my dd(3rd grade) and ds(K).It took the school nurse forever to find the forms,but once she did it was no big deal.I didn't like the wording,kind of like that refusal form some peds use.It says basically that I understand I am putting my kids and others at risk. : The school nurse had only seen one other family use the exemption in 9 years.

The school doesn't like me much I think .They sent home these dental forms where they do all dental services in school,and bring a mobile dental office for things like fillings.It says to fill out the entire form,even if you are opting out.Um,no.It asks all kinds of questions,and it all goes back to the clinic that we had serious problems with.That clinic has offices in a few of the other schools,and there are signs saying to send your kids in sick because they'll examine your child : .Parents can also have their child's medical appointments done during school hours.No way.I want to be with my child.No way will I leave my kids to have medical procedures of any kind done without me there.Especially this clinic!They would fully vax my kids,and do who knows what else.Scary.I'll see my own dr and dentist thank you.

I also opted out of the lead screening for my ds on religious grounds.They gave me a problem about that,but I called the health department and they said to have the school call them with any questions.They said they cannot exclude my ds even if I didn't claim the exemption,since lead poisoning is noncumincable(I know I spelled that wrong!),not contagious is what I mean.