Posted: Sep 08, 2015 7:24 PMUpdated: Sep 09, 2015 4:03 AM
Leaders of the Tucson Unified School District discussed whether immunization numbers for each school should be posted on the TUSD website at their board meeting Tuesday evening.
In Arizona, a student does not have to be immunized for school if the parents have objections on the basis of personal belief. There also are medical exemptions.
Immunization information for all Arizona schools is on the Arizona Department of Health Services website, however, one TUSD board member wants the information to be posted on the TUSD website as well.
The district superintendent doesn’t believe it’s needed, and said it would be a duplication of effort and would label schools.
“It just seems that we would provide another label onto schools that are already laden with labels from the state government as well as the federal government and it’s just unnecessary because the information is already available,” said H.T. Sanchez, TUSD Superintendent.
TUSD Board Member Mark Stegeman said he believes TUSD has an obligation to parents who want that information to make it easily accessible.
According to Francisco Garcia of the Pima County Health Department, TUSD in general has high immunization rates.
“Most of the schools are going to shine within TUSD,” Garcia said. “The real holes in our vaccination in this community happen to be occurring in charter schools and some of our private/parochial schools.”
Copyright 2015 Tucson News Now. All rights reserved.
