District immunization records nearly reconciled; 21 students remain with missing records

Pamela Saunders, Danville Public Schools’ public health and wellness coordinator, told the board on Sept. 4 that immunization-record reconciliation across the division has reduced the number of students with missing records dramatically.

"We're down to 21 that are actually missing some type of immunizations," Saunders said, describing a process of contacting families, reviewing medical records, and cross-checking PowerSchool with the Virginia Immunization System.

Saunders outlined the district notification timeline: flyers were distributed in May, letters were sent in late July and in August, and school nurses and administrators have worked to obtain records from providers and enter them into PowerSchool. She noted that a substantial portion of the earlier total reflected missing documentation in the district system rather than students definitively lacking immunizations.

Saunders told the board that in some cases a student received an immunization but the provider did not upload the record to the state system or the family did not return a record to the school; the district continues daily reconciliation work to bring records into the database.

Saunders also reminded the board that Virginia law requires students attending public and private schools to be adequately immunized and that district nurses coordinate with local health departments and providers to resolve missing data. The board asked no additional questions after the briefing.