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Spotsylvania school administrators concerned about absence of immunization records of rising sixth-graders Date published: 8/8/2009
By PAMELA GOULD Rising sixth-graders, school is still a few weeks off, but it's time for a civics lesson and an opportunity to practice communicating with your parents. Spotsylvania County school officials are concerned that many of you--more than 70 percent of the county's 1,839 sixth-graders--haven't yet gotten your booster tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis vaccine, known as a Tdap booster. Here's the civics lesson: The Virginia General Assembly passed a law in 2006 that requires all sixth-graders to get the shot before they start the school year. In other words: no shot, no school. There is an exception. If you got a tetanus toxoid-containing vaccine within the last five years, you're OK, said School Superintendent Jerry Hill. By now, your parents or guardians should have received a letter from the superintendent explaining this requirement and even telling them how to get you this shot for free. They also should have received voice-mail reminders. The Spotsylvania County Health Department is offering free shots on Mondays from 8 a.m. until noon at the Holbert Building, 9104 Courthouse Road. You don't need an appointment, but you have only two Mondays left before school starts Aug. 24. Spotsylvania sixth-graders aren't the only ones caught dawdling. As of this week, only 50 of the 223 rising sixth-graders in Fredericksburg had submitted documentation showing they had gotten the shot. But students at Fredericksburg's Walker-Grant Middle School have more time. Students in the city, Stafford, Caroline, King George and Westmoreland counties don't start classes until Sept. 8. Walker-Grant secretary Renee Embrey said parents routinely show up the last few weeks before school with the paperwork. Culpeper and Orange public schools open Aug. 24, as Spotsylvania does. Sixth-graders, here's your chance to open a friendly dialogue with your parents and to demonstrate your growing maturity. Check to see if they have scheduled an appointment for you to get the shot, if you haven't gotten it already. Use this as an opportunity to see if you might make a good lawyer. Cite the statute for them, Code of Virginia 32.146. The conversation could turn out to be good for your health, your education and maybe even your career. Pamela Gould: 540/735-1972
Date published: 8/8/2009
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