Orange County Grand Jury
• 2016-2017
• Agency Response
Response to:
Ouch! – Now That Didn’t Hurt: The Implementation of the Vaccination Bill SB 277 in Orange County Schools 05/15/17
Santa Ana Unified School District*
⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings and Recommendations 4 findings
F1
The impact of SB 277 on school districts in Orange County was minimal. Districts were prepared and staffed with well trained personnel. Santa Ana Unified agrees with the finding.
Related Recommendations (1)
R1
School districts should continue to track students with grandfathered personal belief exemptions to ensure these students have the required vaccinations before they reach the next reporting levels. 1601 East Chestnut Avenue, Santa Ana, CA 92701-6322 (714) 558-5501 BOARD OF EDUCATION John Palacio, President • Valerie Amezcua, Vice President Cecilia "Ceci" Iglesias, Clerk • Alfonso Alvarez, Ed.D., Member • Rigo Rodriguez, Ph.D., Member District Response: Recommendation has been implemented with the following action steps: 1. Parents of incoming Kinder students are notified of immunization requirements, including the effect of SB277 on personal belief exemptions, during Kindergarten enrollment (typically in March) prior to fall entry. 2. Parents of 6th grade students with grandfathered Personal Beliefs exemptions are notified at the beginning of the school year regarding the 7th grade checkpoint and the need to have all required immunizations prior to entering 7th grade the following year. 3. Parents of all 6th grade students are notified at the beginning of the school year regarding the required Tdap immunization upon entering 7th grade the following year. 4. Front office staff, LVN's, and School Nurses follow up with the parents at regular intervals to ensure adequate compliance with SB277 and provide assistance for access to medical providers throughout the school year. Grand Jury Recommendation:
F2
There were very few problems that arose with the medical exemptions for vaccinations. Health clerks and school nurses were able to handle any discrepancies. Santa Ana Unified agrees with the finding.
Related Recommendations (1)
R2
Districts should continue to monitor student vaccination percentages to maintain the threshold defined by the CDPH. District Response: Recommendation has been implemented with the following action steps: 1. Student vaccination status is monitored monthly by School Nurses to ensure maintenance of vaccination percentage threshold and to provide follow up for any students who were admitted on a conditional basis. 2. District-wide vaccination status is monitored yearly when the annual Immunization Assessment Report is completed for the California Department of Public Health. Thank you for your outreach on the status of vaccinations for school-aged students. Please contact the Superintendent's Office at 714-558-5512 if you have additional questions or wish further discussion on this topic. Sincerely, .0 Doycen Johnes Doreen Lohnes Assistant Superintendent Special Education/SELPA
F3
Personal Belief exemptions that were grandfathered in are professionally tracked with timely notifications to parents as to when the vaccinations are due to be completed. Santa Ana Unified agrees with the finding.
No recommendations for this finding
F4
Orange County school districts made every effort to make vaccination information available using social media, direct mailings, and links on school websites to clinics in the area. Santa Ana Unified agrees with the finding. F. School nurses, LVN's and health clerks directly notified parents of students with vaccination lapses and those requiring boosters for pre-K, kindergarten and 7th grade well in advance of the due dates. Santa Ana Unified agrees with the finding. Grand Jury Recommendation:
No recommendations for this finding
* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.