School Health

New York State Public Health Law, Section 2164, mandates that schools not permit a child to be admitted or to attend school in excess of 14 days without proof from a health care provider that the child is immunized. All of the immunizations below must be documented by your healthcare provider or health department, or must be from an official copy of the immunization record from your child's previous school. A student may be exempt from any or all immunizations if a physician certifies that such immunizations may be detrimental to the child's health.

Required immunizations-poliomyelitis, mumps, measles, diphtheria, rubella, varicella, hepatitis B, pertussis, tetanus, and, where applicable, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), meningococcal disease, and pneumococcal disease.

Education Law (Section 903) and Regulations of the Commissioner of Education require physical
examinations of children when they:

• Enter a school district for the first time
• Are in grades PreK or K, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11
• Participate in interscholastic sports
• Need working papers
• Are referred to the Committee on Special Education
• Require an appraisal deemed necessary by school authorities to determine an appropriate educational program for the individual. 

If a report of a child's examination is submitted from a primary health care provider, it must be signed by a physician, a nurse practitioner or physician's assistant working in collaboration with the physician.

Submitted reports of examinations must describe the condition of the student when the examination was given and must state whether such student is in a fit condition of bodily health to permit his/her attendance.

The physical appraisal must be no more than 12 months prior to the commencement of the school year in which the examination is required. Students must have a physical prior to participation in interscholastic sports.

Students will be asked to provide a dental health certificate within 30 days after such student’s entrance into school provided that no dental health certificate shall be requested for a student for which an accommodation for religious beliefs is made as before.

If your child's healthcare provider feels it is necessary for medication to be administered to your child in school, contact the School Nurse to obtain a "Medication Permission" form or download it from above. 

To administer medication to students in school, the following steps must be taken for both prescriptions and over-the-counter medications.

1. Obtain written order from your child's healthcare provider. The pharmacy label does not constitute a written order. Faxed requests from licensed healthcare providers are acceptable. Verbal permissions from a healthcare provider to administer medication are not acceptable.
2. Submit your written request that medication be administered to your child in school as ordered by his/her healthcare provider.
3. Deliver your child's medication directly to the School Nurse Office in the original, properly labeled container. (Parents/guardians should ask the pharmacist for two containers, one to remain at home and one at school. Medications cannot be carried by students on school buses or on their person during the school day.)

Under certain conditions it may be necessary to allow a student to self-administer and carry his/her own medication. This practice is discouraged as lost or improperly administered medication is a risk to all students.

The criteria for permitting a student to carry and self-administer medication are as follows:

• The prescriber must direct in writing that the student, DUE TO HIS/HER MEDICAL CONDITION, be allowed to carry his/her medication and self-administer.
• The parent/guardian must request in writing compliance with prescriber’s order.
• The student must be instructed in the procedure of self-administration by the prescribing physician and the school nurse.
• The student must be capable of responsibly carrying properly labeled medication in an original container on his or her person or keeping it secured in a school locker.
• The parent must assume the responsibility for monitoring the child on a daily basis to ensure that the child is carrying and administering the medication as ordered.