FILE: JGCC
STUDENT COMMUNICABLE DISEASES
The Cameron Parish School Board recognizes the importance of protecting the health and welfare of students, teachers, and other employees of the educational system from the spread of communicable diseases, including AIDS.
Students are expected to be in compliance with the required immunization schedule. The building principal is required under La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §17:170 to exclude children from school attendance who are out of compliance with the immunizations required by this statute.
School personnel shall cooperate with public health personnel in completing and coordinating all immunization data, waivers and exclusions, including the necessary Vaccine Preventable Disease Section's School Immunization Report forms to provide for preventable communicable disease control.
A communicable disease shall be defined as a persistent or recurring infection which may be potentially transmitted to a susceptible person by contact with an infected individual.
The Superintendent may only exclude a student from school:
When reliable evidence or information from a public health officer or physician confirms a student has a communicable disease or infection that is known to be spread by any form of casual contact and is considered a health threat to the school population, the student shall be excluded from school until state, federal, or local public health officials determine the condition is no longer contagious and the student can remain in school.
When reliable evidence or information from a public health officer or physician confirms that a student has a communicable disease or infection that is known not to be spread by casual contact the decision as to whether or not the student shall remain in the school shall be addressed on a case-by-case basis by a Review Panel to ensure due process.
If the student’s physician and/or a physician of the School Board's choice indicates that the health of the student does not allow his/her continued attendance in the regular education program, education services shall be provided in the setting appropriate to the health status of the child.
Students whose parent/guardian knowingly conceal their child's having a communicable disease shall, upon identification, be suspended from school on an excused absence status, with the opportunity to make-up assignments and graded activities, for a maximum of ten (10) school days, during which time the Superintendent shall determine the student's school attendance status.
Irrespective of the disease presence, routine procedures shall be used and adequate sanitation facilities shall be available for handling blood or body fluids within the school setting or on school buses. School personnel shall be trained in the proper procedures for handling blood and body fluids and these procedures will be strictly adhered to by all school personnel (see policy GAMFB, Guidelines for Handling Body Fluids in School.)
REVIEW PANEL
Upon learning that a student has a communicable disease that is known not to be spread by casual contact, the Superintendent shall convene a Review Panel, consisting of himself/herself and other members as outlined in Bulletin 135, Health and Safety, to review the health condition of the student, the potential health threat the student’s condition may pose, and other related aspects. Due process procedures shall be conducted on a case-by-case basis by the Review Panel as enumerated in Bulletin 135.
Within three (3) operational days (i.e. a day when the School Board Central Office is open for business) after the Review Panel convenes, the Superintendent shall provide a written decision to the student and his/her parents. The written decision shall convey information brought out during the review process and include the rationale for the decision concerning continued school attendance by the student.
APPEALS
Appeals may be made by the parent or guardian in writing to the Superintendent and subsequently to the School Board as outlined in Health and Safety, Bulletin 135. If the written decision of the Superintendent is contrary to the majority opinion of the Review Panel, a majority of the Review Panel has the right to appeal the decision in the same manner as outlined in Bulletin 135.
CONFIDENTIALITY
All persons involved in procedures to assess school attendance of a student with a communicable disease shall be required to treat all medical information about the student, any proceedings, deliberations, and/or documents as confidential information.
Before any medical information is shared with anyone in the school setting, a “Need to Know” review shall be made which includes the parent/legal guardian, student if age 18 or over, unless the information is required to meet the mandates of federal or state law or regulation, or Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) policy.
BLOOD BORNE DISEASES
Blood borne diseases are those that are spread by blood and sexual contact. In the course of school activities the risk of exposure to these diseases is minimal. There is no epidemiological evidence that any of these diseases are spread by casual contact.
LICE
It shall be the policy of the School Board to authorize periodic lice screening of students for the purpose of identifying, and excluding from school, any student found to be infested with head lice. It shall be the responsibility of the school nurse to coordinate the lice screening program throughout the schools of the parish, and to train designated school personnel to aid in the screening procedures. The school nurse or the principal shall supervise screening procedures within each school, and shall notify the parent, in writing, when a student is found to be infested.
It shall remain the responsibility of the parent to adhere to stated lice control measures, and to return the child to school, lice-free and nit-free, within the specified length of time. The principal may authorize an extension of the excused absence period when conditions warrant.
The following guidelines shall be adhered to in the control of head lice in Cameron Parish Schools:
Any student found to have evidence of head lice infestation (either live lice or nits), shall be excluded from school.
The student shall be excluded from school until he/she has been treated with a pediculicide, and/or until all lice and nits have been removed from the hair.
Any student who is excluded from school because of lice infestation, must be accompanied by his/her parent, or by a responsible adult, when he/she returns to school.
The principal, or designated school personnel, trained by the school nurse to screen for lice, shall check the student's hair on his/her return to school, to ascertain that he/she is free of all lice and nits before the student is allowed to return to the classroom. If the student is not lice-free and nit-free, he/she shall return home with the parent or adult who brought him/her to school, to return as soon as he/she is lice-free and nit-free.
Any student excluded from school for lice infestation shall have an excused absence not to exceed two (2) calendar days per occurrence (not to exceed six (6) calendar days per school year), and shall be allowed to make up work on that basis. The principal may extend this time limit, if circumstances warrant.
Any student excluded from school for lice/nit infestation may only return to be rechecked by trained school personnel once per day during the designated time period set by each school.
More than two (2) occurrences of lice per school year may result in referral to Families in Need of Services (F.I.N.S.).
Revised: December, 1998
Revised: July, 2002
Revised: September 11, 2017
Ref: La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§17:81, 17:170
Health and Safety, Bulletin 135, Louisiana Department of Education
Board minutes, 9-9-85, 5-8-89, 11-16-98, 7-8-02, 9-11-17
Cameron Parish School Board