Ontario

Only a headline because of current events south of the border. Ontario does this every year at this time. Letters home before march break, several more after, likely a phone call from public health, then suspensions. The last part rarely happens because the anti-vaxxers just get an exemption for some bullshit reason. So it’s mostly just a threat so that people aren’t too lazy to get something done.

While I don't like the idea of students being suspended for having stupid parents, at the same time a certain amount of protection needs to be done for those students who's families are doing everything they can to protect them.

When anti-vaxxors create an epidemic for a virus that we had eradicated a half century ago, my sympathy goes far down, especially since while most people who gets measles recover quickly without any serious issues, it is still a virus that kills and maims a notable percentage of those that get it. Not to mention that not getting the measles vaccine means that they didn't get the MMR vaccine specifically, which covers mumps and rubella as well, all of which are highly contagious to the point that just being in the same room that someone infect was in two hours earlier can cause one go catch it.

It is true that for most people, these are mild viruses, but for the minority, they cause lifetime disabilities. It makes no sense to take such a risk when the prevention is not only free to all Ontarians, but the only side effect is suffering from a sore arm for a day or two from a vaccine three generations of people have been taking without problems. This is not about a procedure with limited proof that there are no side effects, but instead on the level that declaring soap usage might bring more harm than good.

Good - if you want your kids in a public school, get them vaccinated, period.

Rare Ontario w.

Damn, that sucks. I didn't realize measles was getting that bad. Hopefully the kids that got it are doing ok.

Let's not be like the states and let conspiracy but jobs screaming anti-vax bs become louder than actual professionals.

I want to say "good", but having been a kid with shitty parents, I genuinely think this is going to be doing more harm than good.

I remember back in elementary we had to pay lunch fees in order to eat at the school during lunch. It was apparently to help pay for the people who supervised us during lunch break, since the school didn't provide food. Since my parents gave priority to my father's alcohol and cigarettes as he sat on his ass playing computer games all day adding nothing to our tight budget, they would never pay for the fees.

It felt like a double punishment having parents who didn't care enough to pay said fees, and a school that put that responsibility on you as the student to advocate for yourself to your own fucking parents or else they'd have you sit in the office's old nursery alone doing nothing each day for 45 minutes as everyone else had recess.

I get that this is different from that cause it's a health and safety issue, but this genuinely feels like it's punishing the students who are already powerless and have awful parents, and I wouldn't be surprised if this grows dissent with the education system as they grow up. Surely there's better options that target the parents?