Tornado’s Kevin Ochoa may be swim champ See Page 10 Vol. 20, No. 7 -FREE- www.advocatenews.net State survey: Salemwood School students fall short on vaccinations By Barbara Taormina S lightly more than 24 percent of the seventh graders at Salemwood School fall short of the requirements for school vaccinations, according to the state’s latest survey on school immunizations. Major outbreaks of cases of measles in Washington State and New York City have health professionals throughout the country calling for more oversight on immunization records and stricter requirements for medical and religious exemptions for vaccination requirements. Overall, the school immunization rate in Massachusetts is high, and Malden mirrors that trend. But the Department of Public Health’s 2017-18 survey includes numbers from several of the city’s schools that stand out. The annual surveys document the percent of students that have had each of the required vaccines for diseases such polio, measles, mumps, rubella and chicken pox. Also included in the statistics are the numbers of children with either medical or religious exemptions to one or more vaccines, children with exemptions who have no records for any vaccines and children who have incomplete vaccination records and no exemptions. The seventh graders at Salemwood fall into the last category. The MDPH acknowledges that many may have received the required vaccines and the problem could be a lack of adequate documentation. Still, there are other numbers throughout the school district that are above state averages. For example, the rate of kindergarteners throughout the state who have either a medical or religious exemption to one or more vaccines is 1.3 percent. At Forestdale School, 4 percent of kindergarten students have an exemption while at Linden, 1.1 percent are exempt. In Massachusetts, the rate of kindergarten students with an exemption and no record of any vaccinations is.6 percent. But at Forestdale, it’s 2 percent and, at Linden it’s again 1.1 percent. The third group of students who have incomplete vaccination records and no exemptions fall into what the MDPH calls the gap. Statewide, 4.3 percent of kindergartners were in this category but at Beebe School it was 5.4 percent while at Salemwood, it was 7.4 percent. Among Malden’s middle school students, 1.6 percent of the seventh graders at Forestdale and 1.1 percent at Linden had exemptions to vaccinations. And in addition to the 24 percent of Salemwood students with incomplete immunizations or incomplete records, 4.8 percent of the seventh graders all fell into the gap category. HEALTH | SEE PAGE 17 $2.53 GALLON Published Every Friday 617-387-2200 Friday, February 15, 2019 rida ebruary 15, 2019 Malden Cub Scouts host Pinewood Derby RACE DAY: Malden Cub Scout Pack 609, sponsored by St. Joseph’s Church in Malden, recently held their Pinewood Derby. The Scouts invited the Malden Girl Scouts to join in the fun as a good time was had by all. (Courtesy Photo) City opens the door to cohousing By Barbara Taomina fter asking slew of questions dripping with skepticism, the Planning Board did what seemed like an abrupt about face and voted to recommend that the Ordinance Committee move forward and craft new zoning regulations for cohousing projects. Councilor Steven Winslow pitched the proposal to expand the city’s zoning ordinances on behalf of Bay State Commons a group of local, like-minded people who believe the best way to live is un• HELP WANTED • HELP WANTED • HELP WANTED Earn $15/HR paycheck 7D Licensed School Bus Driver Malden Trans is looking for reliable 7D Drivers. Applicant preferable lives local (Malden, Everett, Revere). Part time positions available and based on AM & PM school hours...15-20 hours per week with potential for more. Good driver history from registry a MUST! If interested, please call 781-322-9400 A der one roof, in small, individually-owned condo-type units connected by a lot of shared, common space. “Cohousing is sort of like a dormitory for grownups,” said Winslow who added that members of a cohousing group willingly sacrifi ce some of their own individual living space to create shared spaces for group activities such as evening meals in a communal dining room, workouts in a community gym and musical performances and jams in a group art space. Bay State Commons, which includes about 30 individuals, couples and families, pooled their money and bought the former American Legion Post on Pleasant Street with the intention of renovating it into their new co-home. However, in order to move forward with their project, they needed variances for setbacks, open space, parking and dimensional requirements for individual units. But at a hearing last November, only three of the fi ve members of the Board of Appeal voted in favor of the variances which require four votes to pass. That project and the board’s denial is now headed to court, so the proposed cohousing zoning regulations are general and do not specially address the Pleasant Street property. And Planning Board members had plenty of general comments and questions about cohousing and how it all works. Board Chairman Chuck Ioven wondered about the need for need new cohousing regulations and suggested everything Bay State Commons wanted could be accomplished under existing multifamily zoning requirements. But Winslow said cohousing doesn’t work under existing regulations which make it physically impractical and fi - nancially impossible. And then there was the question of turnover of units. “What happens when the fi rst wave of people who adopted this move on?” asked Ioven. “Once it starts changing, that’s where some of my concerns are.” Bay State Commons member Paul Sherman said it takes years for a group of people to come together and commit to a cohousing project. ZONING | SEE PAGE 17
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