Parents Urged to Make Sure Children’s Immunizations Are Up To Date

Next year’s kindergarten students and those who will be entering the seventh grade must have their immunizations up to date or their parents risk those children not being enrolled in school this fall.
Dee Anna Reynolds, School Health Coordinator, and Director of Schools Mark Willoughby addressed the issue during Thursday night’s school board meeting. “Our nurses checked records for students in the sixth grade who will be going into the seventh grade next year. Parents of students who are currently not compliant in the sixth grade should have received a letter prior to spring break giving them the opportunity to get those immunizations current and up to date. Our nurses will check again before school is out for summer break. We’ll send home those letters a second time if we need to and then on the first day, registration day Coordinated School Health and our school nurses will be there checking those records one final time,” said Reynolds
Director of Schools Willoughby said incoming kindergarten students must also meet state immunization requirements. “Basically the state of Tennessee says that in the seventh grade year, you don’t start school unless your immunizations are up to date. For the past two years, we have actually been letting students come (to school) and to work with them on trying to get those immunizations up to date in a time frame. This year we’re doing more homework up front in notifying those parents. They’ve already gotten one notification before spring break and they’re getting another notification before they go home (for the summer). We’re going to follow the state guidelines and for seventh graders and kindergarten students, if they come to school to register and they do not have their immunizations up to date, we’re going to ask them at that time to go get their immunizations,” said Willoughby.
Reynolds added “more of our issues were with seventh grade and that’s why I addressed it more. Just to let parents know, there are two shots that we’re checking for, because all other shots should be current anyway up until sixth grade, and that is the Tetanus-diphtheria-pertussis booster (“Tdap”) and then there’s a second dose of Varivax which is chicken pox. The only way they would be allowed back in school without that second dose of Varivax is if they do have a doctor’s documentation of having had the chicken pox. So that’s the two we’re looking for and checking for in our sixth graders who will be seventh graders next year,” said Reynolds.