Wanner Kris
Our school nurse offers a variety of health-related and health care services to each student in the health clinic. This notice is meant to inform you of all available health-related and health-care services the health clinic offers, not necessarily to indicate any of these services will be provided to your child.
“Health-related services,” as used in TEC, Section 26.0083(g), means services that are typically short-term, noninvasive activities designed to promote a student’s mental, emotional, or physical health or well-being, but are not considered a health-care service. Health-related services are different from healthcare services in that they are typically designed to promote healthy student behaviors and not considered formal methods that rise to the level of health-care services.
Health-related services are considered an “Opt-out” service, which means a process where a parent is considered to have automatically consented unless the parent takes action to withhold or decline consent for their child to participate in or receive a service. You have the right to opt out and withhold consent of any of these services to your child, by contacting the school nurse to receive a form to opt out. We will assume consent is provided unless you fill out an opt out form. You can update your decisions at any time.
These services would include, but not be limited to the following. Notice of service will be given approximately two weeks before service is provided, except for first aid, to allow the option to opt out.
- First Aid - means any one-time immediate treatment, and any necessary follow-up visits, observation, minor conditions or occurrences, or temporary treatment while waiting for medical care (all grades)
- Nutrition health and education beyond what is taught through grade-level or course instruction (all grades)
- Wellness promotion and education, including hygiene and period education (grades 4-5)
- Physical health screenings such as vision, hearing, acanthosis nigricans (grades KG, 1, 3, 5, 7, all students new to school)
- Physical health screenings such as scoliosis (girls grade 5 & 7, boys grade 8)
- Substance abuse prevention and naloxone training (grades 6-8)
- Crisis prevention training including Stop the Bleed and basic CPR (grades 7-8)
- Other services offered in alignment with decisions made by the local school health advisory council (SHAC)
Health-Related Services Parental Opt-Out Form
Screening Parental Waiver Form (must be signed by doctor)
School Health screenings are required to be done, see Education Code, Chapter 38: Health and Safety. It would benefit your child to have them screened at school or by a physician. You can get a waiver signed in place of the screen.
Religious Screening Forms below
Hearing/ Vision Screen Religious Exemption Form (must be notarized)
Acanthosis Nigricans Religious Screen Exemption Form (must be notarized)
Spinal Screen Religious Exemption Form (must be notarized)
General caretaking is not a health-related or Health-care service and will be provided as needed to any student. “General caretaking” means noninvasive actions to address minor student claims of feeling unwell or adult observations of a child being physically unwell, such as cleaning spills or other accidents, offering a change of clothing if necessary, and providing support that an adult would typically provide to support a child’s expressions of being unwell (e.g., feeling a student’s forehead, checking for a swollen throat, etc.). It also includes minor student care actions such as applying adhesive bandages (e.g., band aids), wiping a bloody nose, etc.
You as a parent or guardian have the fundamental right to make decisions regarding the upbringing and control of your child. Our goal as a school is to be a supportive partner in that effort, providing effective academic instruction to maximize student learning. In service of that goal, we also work to support the general well-being of our students so they can remain academically focused.
School personnel are always expected to encourage your child to discuss any issues related to their wellbeing with you. School personnel can also facilitate a conversation between you and your child about any issues related to their wellbeing. Furthermore, employees are expected to keep parents informed related to observations of their child’s mental, emotional, or physical health or in change of service. Administration of first aid is not considered a change in service under this rule, although schools are encouraged to notify parents as appropriate.
Consent for services will be considered effective until the end of the school year unless you provide a change of your consent decisions during the year. You have the right to access your child’s education and health records at any time.