Patch Stats: Personal Belief Exemptions in Roseville Schools

and schools were the top-two Roseville schools with the highest percentage of parents opting out of vaccines for their kindergartener students last year.

That’s according to 2010 California Department of Public Heath data Patch analyzed. The data shows that 19 percent of Adventure Christian School parents opted out of getting their kindergarteners vaccinated by filing a personal belief exemption. At Heritage Oaks Elementary, 8 percent of kindergarteners last year had the exemption.

Of the Roseville districts, Dry Creek Joint Elementary School District had the most personal belief exemptions filed for kindergarteners last year at 6 percent, according to the data. Eureka Union was at 5 percent and Roseville City Elementary was at .1 percent. A parent or guardian can sign a personal belief exemption for their child because of a personal belief or religious reasons.

“It’s a parental decision to choose the exemption,” said Dry Creek Joint Elementary School District Assistant Superintendent Evonne Rogers.

Rogers said parents get the exemption form from the state, not the district; however, district and school nurses can provide parents with information on the importance of vaccines.

At the start of this school year, a new law required kids in grades seven through 12 to receive the . Students had to either get the vaccine or an exemption within 30 days of the school year or they were not allowed at school.

Rogers said the Dry Creek district did not see a trend of more or less exemptions filed because of this new requirement.

“I was surprised to see that we didn’t,” she said.

James Watt, California Department of Public Health’s chief of communicable disease, said there are always questions about vaccinations. When questions about the whooping cough vaccine lead to high rates of personal belief exemptions in a community, Watt said his office steps in to be part of the conversation.

“We do a lot of work to educate parents. We have lots of materials up on our website, we work with partners, particularly pediatricians, to promote what we consider to be healthy choices by providing reliable positive information about immunizations.”

On all of Roseville school districts’ websites, information about vaccine requirements was posted prior to the start of the school year. Rogers said that communication is key to keeping parents informed. School staff also keeps parents informed when there is a type of disease spreading throughout the school.

“Even if we think it’s a suspected case, we still send out a letter,” Rogers said. “If there’s an outbreak, we let parents know.”

At Adventure Christian, staff also sends out letters and notifies parents if there is an outbreak at the school.

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Watt said that with pertussis or measles, a community needs to maintain a 95 percent vaccination rate to keep the disease from spreading.

When there is an outbreak of those diseases, it’s usually children too small to be vaccinated and people with weak immune systems who get sick first, Watts said. “If you are in a school with a high rate of personal belief exemptions, it may be necessary to pull your kids out (when there’s an outbreak),” Watt said.

Adventure Christian School Principal Renee Flores could not be reached for comment by press time.

See how Roseville schools compare in personal belief exemptions:

* Data from the California Department of Public Health for kindergarteners only

* All other schools had 0 personal belief exemptions