Grade 3 students face shot deadline
Suspension from school possible
Elementary school principals will be the heavies on Monday morning, calling Grade 3 students who have incomplete immunization records down to the office and suspending them.
“It’s always unpleasant when you have to suspend a child and nobody wants to do that, but I think the health unit is making sure that people are either getting their kids immunized or at least getting their health records updated,” Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board spokesman Stephen Fields said of the health unit’s newly aggressive immunization stance that comes to a head on Monday. That’s the deadline for children born in 2008 to have complete records — showing they’ve had all their legally required shots — or face a suspension that could last as long as 20 days.
Health unit staff will be working Sunday on compiling a finalized list of students to be suspended.
More than half the 57,000 students in this region have incomplete records. The health unit started months ago targeting the 2008 year because they’re at an age when they’re overdue for their booster shots, usually delivered between ages four and six. By Sept. 1, 800 of 4,300 students in Grade 3 had incomplete records, but that number had been whittled down to 350 by earlier this week.
Principals have been receiving faxed lists each week of kids in their schools facing suspensions and they’ve been calling home urging parents to either get the required shots for their kids or update their records to prove they’ve already had the shots, said public board superintendent Sharon Pyke.
She said the health unit will fax the final lists to principals on Monday morning. Some of those on the list won’t be present because their parents know they’re suspended. But there will likely be some students who show up, and they’ll be called to the office or intercepted in the hallways, and their parents will be called to come pick them up.
The last chance parents have of getting their children off the Monday list is Saturday, when the health unit will take phone calls (519-258-2146, ext. 1222) and faxes (519-258-7288).
After the suspensions start, parents can get their child off the list by having their health care provider call or fax the health unit with proof of immunization, or by going in person to a health unit office to present proof of immunization. Health unit offices are open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday, at 1005 Ouellette Ave., Windsor, 360 Fairview Ave. W., Suite 215 in Essex and 33 Princess St. in Leamington. And if you don’t have a family doctor, the health unit is running daily immunization clinics.
Principals will be receiving updated suspension lists each morning before 8 a.m.
Only about 1.5 per cent of students — roughly 855 across four school boards — have exemptions excusing them from getting their shots for medical or religious reasons. The toughened enforcement will be expanding in the coming years to include other grades.