Student ordered to continue home schooling - WOWK
Despite WOWK‘s headline proclaiming this is a homeschooling issue, the Randolph County Board of Education is actually in charge of this teenager’s education with homebound instruction.
A West Virginia family is refusing the state required vaccinations, as the father seeks a religious exemption. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, West Virginia and Mississippi are the two states not allowing a religious or philisophical exemption from some or all mandated vaccinations. (Medical exemptions are allowed in all states.)
From WOWK:
This year the state mandated all students entering seventh and twelfth grades to receive certain vaccinations.
Olivia Hudok and father Phil sued the school board in September, seeking a religious exemption that would let Olivia resume classes at the Pickens School.
An interesting aside to this situation is that vaccination/records have been used in Illinois in attempts to restrict homeschooling freedoms. This issue been used against homeschoolers elsewhere too.
Courtland Milloy penned a January, 2007 article in the Washington Post: Force Is Not the Only Way to Administer a Vaccine . One of his points below hits home in this West Virginia situation:
All child vaccinations in New Hampshire are voluntary. The state doesn’t kick girls out of school because they didn’t get a vaccine. It understands that parents can become overwhelmed and need encouragement — not just threats and kicks in the butt. And as a result, the state has one of the highest rates of child immunization in the nation.
habc said on April 12, 2013
thank you.. Nicely written