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District 196 nursing outreach drives immunization compliance to 99.8% after targeted clinics
Summary
District 196 reported that a concerted outreach effort — weekly data imports, 15 vaccine clinics in partnership with public-health partners, translation and notary services, and building‑level follow-up — reduced more than 6,000 noncompliant student immunization records in August 2025 to full compliance by late February 2026.
Mary Langworthy, the district’s coordinator of health services, told the school board on June 8 that a concentrated immunization campaign brought District 196’s vaccine compliance from roughly 80% to 99.8%.
“Again, we started with over 6,000 students that were not up to date in August of 2025,” Langworthy said. “We had dropped from over 6,000 down to 91 students that were now only on that list of not meeting the requirement.” She described partnerships with Dakota County and Homeland Health that enabled 15 clinics from spring 2025 through spring 2026 and a set of operational changes — weekly imports of state immunization data, translated letters, notary support for non‑medical exemptions, and temporary deferments for families with hardship — that staff used to reduce the backlog.
Langworthy said the district entered all vaccine records into the student information system at clinics, which decreased administrative burden for families. At a January 2026 clinic hosted with Apple Valley High School partners, the district recorded 211 students receiving 491 shots. By the first scheduled exclusion day only 40 students remained; one week later the count declined to seven and the district ultimately showed full compliance on the first exclusion day.
The immunization effort relied on school nurses, translated communications in Spanish and Somali, community vaccination partners and technology (ParentSquare) for mass messaging and daily district-level tracking. Langworthy said the district will move to a maintenance model with a fall and a spring exclusion date and has planned four clinics next year aligned to those deadlines.
The board lauded the nursing team’s coordination and partnerships. The district referenced Minnesota statute 121A.15 and district regulation 501.5 AR as the legal framework requiring immunization documentation or exemptions.
What’s next: District 196 will adopt a fall and spring exclusion schedule for maintenance and will host at least four clinics next year; staff said the goal is to maintain high compliance while minimizing exclusions.
