Public School for All?

Imagine being a parent in Michigan who has decided to enroll your child into public school. Imagine the school telling you "This is our process" then proceed to tell you what you need to do, which documents you need to upload (because its 2025 and it's all digital now), and you comply. Imagine looking at the laws surrounding an exemption to vaccination and reading that the law recognizes the right to an exemption for any reason. Now imagine that the school says, "sorry, we don't do that--we don't take exemptions, you have to go to the health department and get a waiver".

This is happening all over Michigan right now. This is what happened to one parent last year. The result? The school said, "Get a waiver from the Health Department by October 31st, or we'll kick your child out of school". And they did.

Here is Andy's family's story:

Armada Schools Betraying Students?

Last fall, we enrolled my son in Armada High School and submitted our own exemption statement for vaccines, as supported by Michigan state law. Our son was excluded Nov.1, 2024. This is after he was enrolled and attended school for several weeks, This is after days and days of talking with the principal, superintendent and even the school board. There was no plan for allowing him to be back in school, beyond complying the demand to get a waiver.

We did not comply and pulled our son back to homeschool. This school year he wants to return to his friends and his younger brother also requested to be enrolled.

Now, we have 2 sons starting as Armada Tigers on Monday. Guess what? The school is pulling the same thing as last year. We have until Nov. 1st to comply, or will face getting kicked out of school again. Unless something changes.

Why do I oppose the waiver process? Where in the law does it say that we need to ask the health department permission to enroll students in school? The health department does not have the authority to tell a school anything beyond statutory requirements. To clarify, there is no part of the rule that says, "if a child doesn't get a waiver, they can be permanently removed". This is not the law OR the rule.

The Public health code & the Revised School Code <Michigan laws> says that parents either have to hand in vaccination records OR an exemption statement. <<If 1-of- these 2 requirements are met, a child must be admitted. I handed in an exemption statement. The RULE says schools have to "recognize" it when I hand it in. Yet my healthy teenager was singled out and removed from the roster because he “did not meet enrollment requirements”.

Certified waivers are an unlawful demand. The Armada superintendent claims he was directed by the health department to remove my son from enrollment on November 1, 2024, because of this issue. Since when can the health department decide who can and cannot attend school? The superintendent even blacklisted my son from his athletic awards for cross country! Can you imagine that? Michigan law does not allow for MDHHS to exclude anyone from school and our children are paying the price. 

Many have not considered the gravity of this situation. People have told me:

“Just go to the Health Department,”

“Health department sessions no big deal.” 

“Waivers are easy to get.”

But if it were not a big deal, why is it important enough to remove a student over lack of a waiver? This is a huge deal!

On Monday August 25th, 2 of my sons started classes at Armada high school. Superintendent Mike Musary emailed me saying they’ll be removed again on November 1st for the same reason. Without apology. Unnecessarily. Unlawfully.

On

Instead of protecting students, Musary and the Armada School Board claim they are just “following the rules.” But if a rule forces the removal of innocent children, then Armada needs leadership that will stand up for children—not bureaucracy. He said after consulting with his law firm, the Department of Education, and the Macomb Intermediate School District that all 3 parties agreed that removing my son for this was correct and that he must do the same this year. I do not believe there would be any negative consequences to the school if Mr. Musary allowed my sons to stay. The school, the health department, and the department of education are choosing unlawful rules over the best interests of the children that schools are charged to protect. This needs to be fixed!

This is bigger than one family. If we don’t stand together, we risk losing the right to make our own medical decisions for our kids. I view the requirement of going to the Health Department akin to sewing a yellow star on my children's vests. "What's the big deal? it's just a yellow star." I’m sure a lot of neighbors in 1940s Germany wished they had that opportunity back. This is our moment to stand up for our neighbors before things progress any further.

Armada Must Choose

• PEOPLE over POLICY

• LAW over UNLAWFUL MANDATES

Parents, neighbors, community—speak up now. Our children are on the line! I and my family are going public at great personal risk for this issue. Are we alone? ******************************************************************************************************************************************

We want to thank Andy for having the courage to stand against this utter violation of his family's rights. We're hearing from so many families who are experiencing what Andy has experienced, and worse. This has been going on for 10 years. The time to end the over-reach of MDHHS is now!

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