School-age children now will have less time to get their vaccinations.

Parents were previously given up to eight months to get their children vaccinated. The state has reduced that time frame to five days after the first day of classes.

Several of the districts that serve Butler County said that they have already sent communications out to families alerting them of these changes.

District nurses and staff at the South Butler County School District are prepared to adapt to the changes in rules.

Nurses will be at the schools during the summer to help make sure students are vaccinated before the start of the school year, according to Greg Hajek, director of special services. Parents are being notified about the new changes before the current school year ends through community newsletters.

“Doctors are pretty much on board. They’re working with families,” Hajek said. “Our nurses have said it’s much better than in years past already in terms of immunizations being completed or in the process.”

However, if students with doctor’s notices are in the process of receiving a series of immunizations past the five-day deadline, the school district will work with the students and parents rather than exclude them.

Hajek said while the intent of the law is to make sure that you have as many people immunized so some of these childhood diseases that have disappeared aren’t coming back, the school district wants to avoid the possibility of excluding noncompliant students.

“That becomes a difficult situation,” he said. “Not only just notifying parents, but you don’t want it to be an embarrassment. That’s not our goal. We would work with families to eliminate that.”

The Butler School District is planning to notify parents and also post information on its website, according to Brian Slamecka, assistant superintendent.

Karns City Superintendent Eric Ritzert said he is concerned with the timing changes of the new immunization regulations.

He said there are consistently a small group of families who must be reminded again and again to update their children’s immunizations, and doing it in the busy beginning of the school year will be tough.

“Chasing them down will be a challenge, but we will definitely abide by the law,” Ritzert said.

He said information on the new regulations will go out on the district’s automated communication system and students will be sent home with information as well.

The elementary school nurse met with all parents who registered their kindergartners for the next school year to alert them of the immunization requirements, Ritzert said.

Because next year’s seniors will need a booster, the high school nurse has informed all parents of juniors of the situation.

Ritzert admitted it is likely easier to follow the regulations in a smaller district like Karns City as opposed to a larger district.

“The logistical ramifications of the decision is probably the most problematic side of it,” he said.

Linda Andreassi, Seneca Valley district communications director, said the school nurses review and update students’ immunization information on a continuous basis.

The district has already sent reminders via the SchoolMessenger mass notification system and will continue to send them. There also is information on the online SV Portal for parents to see when accessing their child’s records, grades and other information.

Andreassi could not predict if the new requirements would be an issue, and said she hopes the various communication methods and regular reminders will help.

“Updates to health records are a normal part of data collection and we thank our families for their assistance in meeting these requirements,” Andreassi said.

Joan Timko, school nurse at Slippery Rock High School and Middle School, said they’ve already sent letters to parents of those students who need to get their vaccinations in order. Within a week of the new requirements being passed, a letter was sent home to affected students.

Doctors in the area have been aware these new requirements were coming, so a lot of students already have the necessary immunizations. It’s just a matter of getting students and families to turn in the paperwork that documents the vaccinations.

“We still have a few people who need the vaccines, but for a lot of our students, we just need paperwork,” Timko said.

Timko said the district will check records again in May before the end of school and send out another letter. In August before school starts, immunization records will be checked again and affected students again will be notified.

Sean Arney, Moniteau School District superintendent, said this was the first he’d heard of the new changes. He said they will be communicating with families through written and online media.

The district registers students throughout the year and communicates requirements related to enrollment.

“The key to this change will be to get the information to our families as soon as possible while using numerous communication approaches,” Arney said. “We will do our due diligence to research the policy and how it needs to be implemented.”

The new rules will go into effect in August.

Students who are not vaccinated in time must provide a note from a doctor outlining when they will get vaccinated. Families also may apply to the state for a religious or philosophical exemption to the requirements.

The state requires all students be vaccinated against tetanus, diphtheria, acellular pertussis, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis B and chickenpox.

There is also a requirement that all students get a dose of tetanus, diphtheria, acellular pertussis and meningococcal conjugate vaccinations before starting seventh grade and a dose of the meningococcal conjugate vaccine before starting 12th grade.