Calvert ISD could ban students without vaccinations

Officials with the Calvert Independent School District are reminding parents to make sure their students have all of their shots for school.

If not, they won't be allowed to attend starting November 26.

"We want to make sure that we have healthy students and that they’re not passing things on to other students," said Ronnell Trotter, Calvert Schools Principal.

The district isn't large. They have around 170 students enrolled.

"This year, we have between six and 10 students that we're just trying to ensure that they are up to date on their immunization records," he said.

The district is reaching out to parents, reminding them about their child's shots.

"We're using Facebook this year as a way of getting out to parents and we're going to also go by door to door and do phone calls," said Trotter.

"They should go to see their family doctor but we're also going to be in touch with BVCOG to see if they can bring out maybe a wagon, a health wagon to come and help parents that are unable to get to those places," said Trotter.

"I feel like that's a good thing because the majority of the time when kids go to school they get sick," said LeTaurus Shivers, a Calvert ISD Parent. He received a letter from the school Wednesday.

The state requires students have certain vaccines before they can attend school.

"As we start to see more and more people not being vaccinated or not getting their children vaccinated, we're starting to see an increase in measles or mumps or polio like illnesses and things like that," said Sara Mendez with the Brazos County Health Department.

"It's very important for children to be vaccinated," Mendez said.

“Most of the time, school districts will give about 90 days from the beginning of the school year for everyone to get those vaccines and get vaccinated," said Mendez.

"We work real closely with school nurses. Our nurses help them make sure that all those records are up to date," she said.

Parents like Shivers won't have much to worry about. His children have all of their vaccinations. Other parents can request vaccine exemptions for religious and other reasons, but health experts don't recommend that.

Texas also offers an immunization registry site that helps you keep track of shot records. We have more information about the registry and the vaccination opt out in the related links section.