Great Neck couple seeks vaccination exemption for kids

Two Great Neck parents are continuing their legal fight with the local school district, seeking a religious exemption for their children to forgo vaccinations necessary to attend public schools.

The district last year denied Martina and Andreas Schenck Caviezel's request to enroll their then 4-year-old in public school, saying they did not have a "genuine and sincere religious objection to vaccination," court papers said. The Caviezels, who belong to a nondenominational church, Sanctuary of the Beloved, sued in federal court for a religious-based exemption. Martina Caviezel is a minister in the church, said their lawyer, Patricia Finn of upstate Piermont.

Earlier this week, U.S. District Judge Arthur Spatt in Central Islip ruled that the case, under state public health law, can move to trial. However, he declined to issue a preliminary injunction for the parents that would have allowed their child to immediately attend school.

"The judge indicated he did not feel their beliefs were religious," said Finn, adding that in denying the injunction the judge noted that her client had tattoos, but she said those tattoos represent prayers.

State law gives people the right to enroll in school without vaccinations if they can show a sincere genuine religious belief, said Joseph Carbonaro, an attorney for the Great Neck district. He said the district previously has allowed religious-based exemptions when they are valid. But the district's position, he said, was that "this request was not based on religion.

"Generally, the objections were philosophical and secular, which is what the school district thought and what the judge found," Carbonaro said. "The judge wrote an opinion that the real basis is not religious, but that they don't believe in vaccinations."

In a letter to the district requesting an exemption, the Caviezels said: "Not only do we respect our Creator and Mother Earth, but our bodies as well."

The plaintiffs also had argued that state law that requires school-age children be immunized was unconstitutional because it is "overly burdensome and confusing," Finn said. But the judge dismissed that claim.

Carbonaro also said the state commissioner of education had also denied a request by the parents to stay the district's denial.

A court date hasn't been set. There is no litigation regarding the couple's other three children yet, Finn said.