Five Fayetteville Students Get Unexpected School Vacation

FAYETTEVILLE -- Five students at Fayetteville High School are getting an unexpected vacation because they didn't provide evidence by Thursday of having the required doses of the chickenpox vaccine or that they have had the disease.

Those students will be out of school until Oct. 1, said Alan Wilbourn, district spokesman.

The students will have to complete school assignments sent to them at home. The absences won't be counted against them.

The district set a deadline of 4 p.m. Thursday to provide proof of having a second dose of chickenpox vaccine after two students came down with the highly contagious disease earlier this week.

A new regulation from the Arkansas Department of Health went into effect Sept. 1 requiring all students to have a second dose of the chickenpox, or varicella, vaccine.

The district set the 4 p.m. Thursday deadline to allow students time to comply with the new regulation.

Students were allowed to provide proof they got the second dose of the vaccine or proof from a physician they had chicken pox.

NW News on 09/19/2014

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