FILE: JGFG
ILLNESS AND ACCIDENTS
It is the intent of the Avoyelles Parish School Board to maintain a safe and healthy educational environment in school buildings, on school campuses, and at school-sponsored functions and activities. School administrators, teachers, volunteers, and other school personnel, however, cannot guarantee that the school environment will be free of illness or accidents.
The Avoyelles Parish School Board shall attempt to provide appropriate and reasonable care of students when they become ill or injured. Any treatment rendered should be in accordance with the severity of the illness or injury. When a child becomes seriously sick at school or is seriously injured in an accident, the principal or his/her designee shall be responsible for immediately contacting the parents. If the principal or designee is unable to contact the parents, he/she shall attempt to contact the family’s primary care provider as noted on the Health Information form submitted by the parents at the beginning of the school year. The principal or designee shall also attempt to contact the person listed as the emergency contact on the Health Information form.
If treatment is deemed urgent and the primary care provider is not immediately available for consultation, the principal shall call 911 or its equivalent. School personnel shall remain with the child until emergency medical personnel arrive to treat the ill or injured student. If emergency medical personnel deem it necessary to transport the student to a medical facility, school personnel may accompany the student.
Neither the School Board nor the school shall assume any liability for the treatment of a student.
Principals shall notify the Superintendent of all serious accidents to students whether they occur on the school grounds, on the school bus, on field trips or during any other student activity.
To facilitate the rendering of health services, the School Board shall require the parent/legal guardian to submit properly completed standardized school health forms as enumerated in Health and Safety, Bulletin 135.
No medication shall be administered to any student unless written permission from parents has been granted, and only in accordance with School Board policy JGCD, Administration of Medication.
FIRST AID
Generally, treatment of injuries should be limited to the rendering of first aid. First aid is that immediate help given by the best qualified person at hand in case of accidents or sudden illness. Each school employee who participates in any required in-service shall be required to receive first aid orientation and training. A master first aid kit shall be kept and properly maintained in each school. For more serious injuries, trained medical personnel should be summoned to assist with such injuries as needed.
Each student in the district shall be required to have completed and signed an emergency treatment consent form at the beginning of each school year. Therefore, the parent/guardian of each student shall submit an emergency medical authorization form which shall indicate the procedure he/she wishes the school to follow in the event of a medical emergency involving his/her child. This documentation shall be maintained by the school nurse or other designated personnel at each school.
AUTHORITY OF NURSES
Certain conditions warrant parent-nurse contact and counseling. When a nurse examines a child in school, careful consideration is given to any existing abnormality which may warrant medical attention. Before a parent is asked to keep a child home for any duration, a preliminary written statement is sent to the parent. This is for the purpose of alerting the parent that a health problem exists, and in addition, allowing the parent sufficient time to remedy the situation. If the situation is not remedied within reasonable time or if the nurse, upon preliminary examination, is reasonably certain that a communicable disease, infectious or acute non-infectious condition or parasitic problem exists within a school, the school health nurse, in cooperation with the principal of the school, shall have the authority to send the child home with written instructions to the parent, requesting that the child remain out of school until the condition has been remedied. This will be done via a home visit or letter. At the time the child is sent home, the parents will be advised that a medical decision will necessarily need to be made before the child can return to school. Therefore, a written communication from a physician stating that the condition is no longer communicable or detrimental to the child or his/her schoolmates must accompany the child upon his/her return to school.
In the event that no school nurse is able to come to the assistance of a principal at the needed time, the principal shall exercise the same authority that he/she would have in cooperation with the school nurse. He/she shall, as soon as possible, notify the school nurse, requesting a visit to the home of the child for the purpose of ascertaining whether or not the condition indeed warranted his/her having been sent home. If a parent is uncooperative and fails to abide by the policy hereby established, it shall become the responsibility of the principal or school nurse to advise the parent that, unless he/she adheres to the policy, the Supervisor of Child Welfare and Attendance will be informed. Upon being informed it will then become the responsibility of the Supervisor of Child Welfare and Attendance to take appropriate action, utilizing the advice of medical and legal resources.
When a child becomes ill at school, the decision concerning notification of parents requires judgment based on the child's statement of his/her feelings and the nurses, teacher's and principal's observation of his/her appearance and behavior. Even careful consideration to a child's statement of his/her feelings will not always give positive evidence of sickness.
Revised: June, 2008
Revised: August, 2010
Ref: La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§17:81, 17:440.1
Louisiana Handbook for School Administrators, Bulletin 741, Louisiana Department of Education
Board minutes, 10-7-08, 11-2-10
Avoyelles Parish School Board