7 hours Ago
PENDLETON, New York — A federal judge has ruled in favor of the parents of a Starpoint middle school student whom the school district tried to bar from attending classes because she lacked a required vaccine . The preliminary injunction issued by U.S.
District Court John L. Sinatra will allow the girl to remain in school at least through the end of the current school year. Vaccine waivers New York State requires a host of immunizations for children to attend school.
However, its laws also allow for valid medical exemptions. In this case, the judge found that despite having one, the district was wrong when it continued to attempt to bar the student from coming to school. "This is a decision that's really first of its kind, where it's actually addressed this issue head on, of whether or not school medical directors can second guess licensed physicians across New York State," said attorney Chad Davenport of the Rupp Pfalzgraf law firm, which represented the girl and her parents, who in court papers are all only identified by initials.
The girl lacked the required vaccine for Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis after her doctor determined that, due to an existing neurological condition, she could be harmed by it. "That's why he signed a waiver excusing her from that vaccine requirement," Davenport said. According to Davenport that should have been the end of the matter.
But the district dug in. "It's unfortunate that we had to go through so much litigation over what should have been a very simple process," he said. In a statement to 2 On Your Side, Starpoint Superintendent of Schools Sean Croft wrote: "Our vaccination policy is based on guidance from the District's Medical Director and informed by established New York State Education Department directives.
" "Your medical director can't insert his own medical opinion as to whether or not this vaccine waiver should or shouldn't be applied," countered Davenport, who adds that the district should have recognized this long before now. Especially after the judge issued a temporary restraining order against the school district months ago. "There were some very clear statements that were made from the judge before we received this decision that this was a valid vaccine waiver, and they kept refusing to apply the law and kept refusing to acknowledge that our interpretation of the law was correct," Davenport said.
District will abide by ruling Beyond acknowledging that, "We will follow the Judge's orders", the statement from Superintendent Croft also noted that the judge, "rejected the Plaintiff's claims that any District officials discriminated, inappropriately treated others differently, or otherwise acted in an unlawful or unconstitutional manner." While acknowledging as much, Davenport noted it was not the main point of the judge's ruling. "This was a request for a preliminary injunction and all we wanted was to make sure that this young girl stayed in school.
While we didn't succeed on federal constitutional claims, we did succeed on a state law claim that's just based on interpretation of New York State law. So we did achieve our goal, which was great," he said. Lesson learned? Since the ruling five days ago, Davenport says his office has received calls from parents across the state claiming their districts are also resisting vaccine waivers signed by their child's pediatrician.
"Based on the calls that we've received there's significant, serious situations that are being ignored by school districts across the state for young children who have been injured by vaccines," he said. " This is a very serious issue that's not just isolated to this family at all." Moreover, according to Davenport, the judge's ruling should provide a teachable moment for school districts statewide to be more circumspect in future decisions.
"If a licensed physician, somebody who has been certified by New York State to provide appropriate medical decisions, says that this child should not receive a vaccine then school districts need to learn to accept that because if they don't they're not following the law," he said..
