9 Rockland yeshivas face fines for failing to release student measles vaccination records
Nine private schools in Ramapo face hefty fines for failing to provide Rockland County health officials with a list of students who have not been fully vaccinated against measles. The schools are within a geographical area considered the nexus of Rockland's measles outbreak that numbers 94 cases as of Thursday.
The
schools each face fines of up to $2,000 a day since Nov. 16, according
to Rockland County Attorney Thomas Humbach. Administrative hearings
are scheduled for Monday and Tuesday.
The county
has ordered schools in the New Square, Monsey and Spring Valley area to
restrict unvaccinated students from attending if the school's MMR
vaccination rate is less than 80 percent. The rule isn't exclusively for
yeshivas, but those are the schools that fit the parameters, county
officials said.
The schools are being asked to provide records of students' vaccination rates. Under state public health laws, schools are required to keep a list of students' vaccination records. Both health laws and state education laws allow exemptions from vaccination for health and/or religious reasons.
The health department, though, can restrict
school attendance under certain circumstances when there are a
significant number of cases of a "vaccine-preventable" communicable
disease, such as the current measles outbreak in Rockland. A similar
attendance restriction has also been instituted in Brooklyn, where New York City health officials say there are more than 40 measles cases in the Orthodox Jewish community.
The county health department uses those records to verify that schools are following the department’s restrictions.
MEASLES IN ROCKLAND: Why do so many people still not know about it?
On
Monday and Tuesday, county judicial officers will conduct hearings and
then make recommendations to the commissioner of health, Dr. Patricia
Schnabel Ruppert. The process is similar to sanitary code and Rockland Codes Initiative
enforcement, Humbach said. Private school officials will be able to
appear and make their case. The hearings will be conducted by Rockland
County Judicial Hearing Officers Charles Apotheker and Stuart Lipkind.
Fines
will be outlined during Wednesday's Board of Health meeting, which is
at 10 a.m. at the Rockland County Health Department, Building F, Room
119 in Pomona. That meeting is open to the public.
County
officials said the attendance restrictions for unvaccinated students
will remain in place until 21 days after the last measles case in the
area. Unvaccinated students who receive MMR shots are allowed back in
school.
Schools facing fines are:
- Yeshiva Ohr Torah
- Bais Chana Malka
- The Skill Building Center
- Yeshiva Tzoin Yosef Pupa (Boys)
- Yeshiva Tzoin Yosef Pupa (Girls)
- Ateres Bnos (two locations)
- Avir Yakov (Boys)
- Avir Yakov (Girls)
- Bnei Yakov Yosef
County
officials said there are around 35 yeshivas that fit the criteria for
attendance restrictions and the majority have provided the requested
documentation and partnered with the health department.
"I
don't care what school it is, if the health department deems this step
has to be taken, it will be taken," Rockland County Executive Ed Day
told The Journal News on Thursday. Acknowledging pushback by some
schools in regards to the county restrictions, Day said, "We will grant
no quarter in protection of the health of this county."