Has anyone here enrolled a no vax child into the public school system in Waltham, MA? What were your experiences?
My daughter recently was accepted in the public preschool program here. Its a highly desired/limited space program. I think there are 5 open spaces that hundreds of kids interview for (which seems really dumb to me since I am from Minnesota where preschool is free and available to everyone.) Regardless, my daughter was chosen which we are thrilled about because we really want the experience for her. My problem now is that I can't stop worrying that she might lose out on this experience because of the vaccine issue. I know about the religious exemption and how to submit it. I'm just worried about being challenged.
I think i'm shell shocked by an experience we had during our first ER visit last week. Our daughter cut her finger so we had to take her to the urgent care here in Waltham. The triage nurse asked if our daughter was up to date with vaccines and I told her she was not vaccinated. The nurse spun around in her chair, looked me in the eyes and said "She's NOT vaccinated??" I said no and she spun back around and typed it into the file. Then the doctor who saw us mildly lectured us about tetanus. While we were waiting to be discharged we overheard a conversation outside our door between our doctor, the attending physician and 2 nurses about "lockjaw" and the other risks of tetanus. So basically we knew they were talking about us and the fact that we hadn't vaccinated our daughter. It was upsetting to be questioned and to feel so judged. I want to not care but I really did care.
I think that situation has me worried about the preschool thing. I don't want our choice to not vax to interfere with her opportunities in life or the way people treat her.
I need a pep talk!
Also, if you have any experiences with Waltham public schools/vaccines I would be so grateful to hear them.
Thanks in advance!
My daughter recently was accepted in the public preschool program here. Its a highly desired/limited space program. I think there are 5 open spaces that hundreds of kids interview for (which seems really dumb to me since I am from Minnesota where preschool is free and available to everyone.) Regardless, my daughter was chosen which we are thrilled about because we really want the experience for her. My problem now is that I can't stop worrying that she might lose out on this experience because of the vaccine issue. I know about the religious exemption and how to submit it. I'm just worried about being challenged.
I think i'm shell shocked by an experience we had during our first ER visit last week. Our daughter cut her finger so we had to take her to the urgent care here in Waltham. The triage nurse asked if our daughter was up to date with vaccines and I told her she was not vaccinated. The nurse spun around in her chair, looked me in the eyes and said "She's NOT vaccinated??" I said no and she spun back around and typed it into the file. Then the doctor who saw us mildly lectured us about tetanus. While we were waiting to be discharged we overheard a conversation outside our door between our doctor, the attending physician and 2 nurses about "lockjaw" and the other risks of tetanus. So basically we knew they were talking about us and the fact that we hadn't vaccinated our daughter. It was upsetting to be questioned and to feel so judged. I want to not care but I really did care.
I think that situation has me worried about the preschool thing. I don't want our choice to not vax to interfere with her opportunities in life or the way people treat her.
I need a pep talk!
Also, if you have any experiences with Waltham public schools/vaccines I would be so grateful to hear them.
Thanks in advance!