VALLEY STREAM, N.Y. (WCBS 880) – A Long Island father says that despite a religious exemption, his unvaccinated daughters have been banned from school.
Dr. Eric Feintuch is a chiropractor from Valley Stream. He says his three daughters – two of them 10 years old and the other 16 – have disabilities and that he chose not to vaccinate them.
For the past six years, the three girls have attended the Hebrew Academy of Five Towns & Rockaway in Cedarhurst, but everything changed three weeks ago when the school no longer honored his religious exemption for vaccinations.
He says he got a stay from New York State to allow his children back into the school until the matter is resolved, but the school has still not allowed his children to return.
“I only do this interview, because I just feel like people should know that parents do have problems with vaccinations; we had a religious one and we were probably entitled to a medical exemption,” Feintuch said. “This is no way to treat children, and this school is a real disgrace.”
Feintuch says the teachers know his daughters and have helped them succeed despite their disabilities. He says having the girls at home is not good for them.
“They want to go back to school. They want to learn. There’s only a month left, there’s no outbreak, and my children can’t even go back to school,” he said.
WCBS 880 tried to get comment from the school administrator, but he did not return phone calls.