Information & Announcements
- Transportation Schedules
- New Immunization Law
- Mandatory Mailing
- Onteora Student Wins National Writing Contest
- Dispose of Un-Needed Pharmaceuticals
- Summer Construction Work to Impact Public Access on Boiceville Campus
- 5 Things Every Parent Should know about NY State's Plan for the Every Child Succeeds Act (ESSA)
Transportation Schedules
Transportation information for the 2019-20 school year is now available on the student/parent portal (select the "More" tab). Please log in for the most up to date information. If you are unable to log in to the portal to retrieve transportation information, please contact your child's school.
If you have any questions or concerns about your child's transportation, please contact the Transportation Department at (845) 657-2537.
New Immunization Law
Frequently Asked Questions About Legislation Removing Non-Medical Exemptions from School Vaccination Requirements
Overview:
On June 13, 2019, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo signed legislation removing non-medical exemptions from school vaccination requirements for children. The United States is currently experiencing the worst outbreak of measles in more than 25 years, with outbreaks in pockets of New York primarily driving the crisis. As a result of non-medical vaccination exemptions, many communities across New York have unacceptably low rates of vaccination, and those unvaccinated children can often attend school where they may spread the disease to other unvaccinated students, some of whom cannot receive vaccines due to medical conditions. This new law will help protect the public amid this ongoing outbreak.
1. What did the new law do?
As of June 13, 2019, there is no longer a religious exemption to the requirement that children be vaccinated against measles and other diseases to attend either:
• public, private or parochial school (for students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade), or
• child day care settings.
2. When did the law become effective?
The law became effective on June 13, 2019.
3. How will schools and child day care settings be notified?
A joint notification by the NYS Department of Health, State Education Department, and Office of Children and Family Services was distributed to schools and child day care settings beginning on June 15, 2019.
4. For those children who had a religious exemption to vaccination, what are the deadlines for being vaccinated?
Children who are attending child day care or public, private or parochial school and who had a religious exemption to required immunizations, must now receive the first age appropriate dose in each immunization series by June 28, 2019 to attend or remain in school or child day care. Also, by July 14, 2019 parents and guardians of such children must show that they have scheduled appointments for all required follow-up doses. The deadlines for follow-up doses depend on the vaccine. The Department follows the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) catch-up immunization schedule for all immunizations that are required to attend school in New York State, and expects children to receive required doses consistent with Table 2 of ACIP's Recommended Child and Adolescent Immunization Schedule for ages 18 years or younger. (Please note that the guidelines contain all ACIP recommended vaccines, including some that are not currently required for schools and child day care programs in New York State.)
5. Where can I find the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) catch-up immunization schedule?
The ACIP catch-up immunization schedule is available at the following link: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/schedules/hcp/imz/child-adolescent.html (Please note that the guidelines contain all ACIP recommended vaccines, including some that are not currently required for schools and child day care programs in NYS.)
6. Are the vaccination requirements, as described in Question 5, required for my child to attend summer schools that are overseen by NYSED and summer child day care programs that are overseen by OCFS?
Yes. This requirement applies to summer school and summer child day care programs.
7. What is the deadline for first dose vaccinations if my child is not attending school until September?
The Department encourages parents and guardians of all children who do not have their required immunizations to receive the first dose in each immunization series as soon as possible. The deadline for obtaining first dose vaccinations in each immunization series for children attending school in the fall is 14 days from the first day of school or enrollment in child day care. Within 30 days of the first day of school, parents and guardians of such children must show that they have scheduled appointments for all required follow-up doses.
8. Does this new legislation apply to my child attending college?
The new legislation did not change the vaccination requirements for college attendance. Students attending college in NYS can still obtain a religious exemption. The Department requires that every student attending college be vaccinated against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), unless the student has a valid religious or medical exemption.
9. Does this new legislation affect my child's medical exemption?
No. The new legislation does not affect valid medical exemptions.
10. What is a valid medical exemption?
A valid medical exemption must:
1. Be on a sample medical exemption form issued by the Department https://www.health.ny.gov/forms/doh-507f or the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, or on a signed statement that certifies that the immunization may be detrimental to a child's health;
2. Be signed by a physician licensed to practice medicine in New York State;
3. Contain sufficient information to identify the medical contraindication to a specific immunization. The Department recommends that health care practitioners consult the ACIP guidelines for contraindications and precautions to childhood vaccinations, available at: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/acip-recs/general-recs/contraindications.html (Please note that the guidelines contain all ACIP recommended vaccines, including some that are not currently required for schools and child day care programs in New York State); and
4. Be confirmed annually.
11. My child is not being allowed to attend school and/or child day care program based on vaccination status. How do I appeal this decision?
Education Law §310(6-a) allows an appeal to the Commissioner of the State Education Department from persons considering themselves aggrieved by an action taken by "a principal, teacher, owner or other person in charge of any school in denying a child admission to, or continued attendance at, such school for lack of proof of required immunizations in accordance with" Public Health Law §2164. Such appeal may include a request for a "stay" of the school's action while the appeal is pending before the Commissioner. Information regarding the appeal process is available at: http://www.counsel.nysed.gov/appeals/.
There is no appeal process for child day care programs. Programs must be in compliance with all applicable laws.
12. What are the penalties for a school and child day care program if it does not comply?
All public, private and parochial schools are required to comply with the law. The Department will determine the cause of a school's violation or noncompliance and, where appropriate, seek civil penalties from noncompliant schools. NYS OCFS regulates child day care programs and may sanction programs that do not comply with the law.
13. How does New York State verify vaccination rates at schools and child day care programs?
The NYSDOH annually conducts surveys of school and child day care immunization coverage and exemption rates. Schools and child day care settings are required to participate in the surveys. Additionally, the NYSDOH audits a sample of schools each year for compliance with PHL Section 2164 and to verify the rates reported in their survey. If any students out of compliance
with PHL Section 2164 are discovered during the audit, then the NYSDOH will require the students be excluded from school until they comply with the law. The Department will determine the cause of a school's noncompliance and, where appropriate, seek civil penalties from noncompliant schools. In some counties, the Department has delegated the county health department with authority to assist in conducting audits of schools to verify compliance.
NYS OCFS reviews vaccination records for compliance.
14. Does the new law apply to students who receive special education services?
Yes, the new law applies to students who receive special education services. However, the new legislation does not affect valid medical exemptions, and the United States Department of Education ("USDE") has issued guidance to assist schools in ensuring that students with disabilities under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act ("IDEA") who are medically unable to receive vaccines due to a disability are not discriminated against on the basis of disability. USDE's Office for Civil Rights' Fact Sheet: Addressing the Risk of Measles in Schools while Protecting the Civil Rights of Students with Disabilities is available at: https://www2.ed.qov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/ocr-factshee t-measles-201503.pdf.
Questions may be directed to the State Education Department's Office of Special Education, Policy Unit, 518-473-2878, SPECED@nysed .gov or to the appropriate Special Education Quality Assuranc e Regional Office, SEQA@nysed.gov.
15. My child receives educational services from a public, private or parochial school off school grounds. Do they need to be vaccinated?
If a student is enrolled in the school, regardless of where they receive educational services, they will need to comply with the vaccination requirements for schools.
Mandatory Mailing
Onteora Student Wins National Writing Contest
Onteora student Thea Millenson-Wilens is a national winner in the Letters About Literature writing contest sponsored by the Library of Congress. Thea’s letter to Gayle Forman, author
of If I Stay, won one of two National Prizes awarded in the Level 2 (Grades 7 and 8)
category. The prize includes a $2,000 award.
Thea, who initially wrote the letter to Ms. Forman as part of an assignment for Denise Maltese’s Grade 8 English class, will be entering ninth grade in the fall.
Thea qualified for the national round of the competition by winning at the state level. As a winner in the New York State Letters About Literature competition, she had the opportunity to attend the New York Writers Hall of Fame’s June induction ceremony, which honored new inductees Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jennifer Egan, James Patterson, Larry Kramer, Ntozake Shange, Richard Peck, and William Cullen Bryant.
The Letters About Literature program is a national reading and writing promotion contest that is judged at the state and national levels. To enter, readers write personal letters to an author, living or dead, from any genre, explaining how that author’s work changed their way of thinking about the world or themselves.
For more information on this year’s awards, please see the Library of Congress press release at https://www.loc.gov/item/prn-19-064/library-of-congress-announces-reading-writing-competition-winners-2/2019-07-02/
Dispose of Un-Needed Pharmaceuticals
The Onteora Central School District is partnering with the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to help parents, guardians, and community members to safely dispose of un-needed pharmaceuticals. The goal of the DEC Pilot Pharmaceutical Take Back Program is to help protect public health, public safety, and the environment. Medication-collection kiosks are located at the Boiceville Pharmacy on Route 28 as well as at the Shandaken, Olive, and Woodstock Police Departments. For additional authorized disposal locations near you, go to: https://on.ny.gov/rxdropbox
Summer Construction Work to Impact Public Access on Boiceville Campus
During the months of July and August, public access to the High School/Middle School track and football field, as well as the rear side of the school building, will be restricted due to construction work. The work, involving replacing the bleachers and press tower, adding handicap parking by the track, installing retaining walls, and paving the back area of the gymnasium, was authorized by voters as part of the 2018/2019 school budget and approved by the State Education Department late last fall. “The area will be an active construction site,” says Jared Mance, Director of Facilities and Operations. “There will be heavy equipment, and a stream of contractors coming and going. To ensure everyone’s safety, we ask that students and community members to kindly respect the fact that the track, football field, and back parking lot will be off-limits to the public during July and August.”
If you have any questions, please call Mr. Mance at (845) 657-6384 or Monica Kim LaClair, Assistant Superintendent for Business, at (845) 657-8499.
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