SCHOOL HEALTH SERVICES



School Health Services

07/2012

MISSION

The mission of the School Health Services Program is to enhance the educational process through the promotion, protection, maintenance and improvement of the health status of students, faculty and staff. This requires the mobilization of home, school, and community resources to assure the well-being of students and staff, to create a healthful school environment, and to assist all students to function at their highest level of physical, emotional, social, and intellectual health in order to obtain the maximum benefit from their educational opportunities.

This commitment to comprehensive health and wellness includes a program of health education, health counseling, and consultation designed to increase knowledge, affect positive attitudes toward health, and provide opportunities to develop sound health practices that will increase competency in making lifelong health decisions.

The School Health Services Program assures greater effectiveness of the total school program and serves to minimize the health problems of society in the future.

SCHOOL HEALTH SERVICES

LEGISLATIVE BACKGROUND

Education Law and Commissioner’s Regulations address the provision of health services for children in New York State schools.

Commissioner’s Regulations, Part 136, requires that districts provide a program of health service. Health service is defined by the Regulations as “the several procedures...designed to determine the health status of the child; to inform parents or other persons in parental relation to the child, pupils, and teachers of the individual child’s health condition subject to federal and state confidentiality laws; to guide parents, children, and teachers in procedures for preventing and correcting defects and diseases; to instruct the school personnel in procedures to take in case of accident or illness; to survey and make necessary recommendations concerning the health and safety aspects of the school facilities and the health information.”

Commissioner’s Regulations, Part 135 requires that districts provide health education for both elementary and secondary students. Health education is defined by the Regulations as “instruction in understandings, attitudes and behavior in regard to the several dimensions of health. This instruction relates to alcohol, tobacco and other drugs, safety, mental health, nutrition, dental health, sensory perception, disease prevention and control, environmental and public health, consumer health, first aid, and other health-related areas.”

SCHOOL HEALTH SERVICES

OVERVIEW

A child’s ability to learn is influenced by his/her health status. Physical and psychosocial challenges to the health of children in New York State and the nation are increasing. Chronic illness, disabilities, infectious and potentially deadly diseases, pregnancy, depression, suicide, child abuse, complex diseases, and behavioral disorders are among the many problems that may affect a child’s ability to learn. Recent trends in American society and family life frequently place children at risk for failure. Major changes in family dynamics and limited access to affordable health care cause students and parents to utilize school health services as their primary source for health guidance and service.

New York State Education Law and Commissioner’s Regulations address the provision of health services for children in New York State Schools. The City School District of Albany School Health Services Program functions within the Department of Health and Physical Education and provides a team of professionals including School Physicians and School Nurses. These professionals, each with a unique role, have expertise which permits them to identify, assess, plan and manage the myriad of problems impacting children so that students can gain optimally from their educational experience. Through health education, counseling and consultation, School Health Service personnel promote the development of sound health attitudes, practices and understandings so that each student may achieve a high degree of self-reliance in maintaining and improving his/her own health and the health of others.

The District realizes that parents have the basic moral and legal responsibility to provide health care for their children. School Health Services personnel assist parents in understanding the significance of health problems and healthy lifestyles and in accessing resources to meet primary health care needs. It collaborates with home, school, and the community to resolve health problems; to promote and protect individual, family, school, and community health; and to effect positive attitudes toward healthy living.

The School Health Services program encompasses a broad range of activities that assure the health and well being of students and District staff. Significant data regarding the health status of students and staff must be collected, maintained, and interpreted so that through counseling and consultation meaningful intervention may be obtained. Community resources must be accessed appropriately. Health conditions must be interpreted for District staff so that program modifications may respond to the needs of individual students. A safe and healthful school environment must be maintained. This includes a program of safety education, provisions for care of emergency illness and injury, communicable disease control, attention to the physical aspects of the school facilities, and consideration for the social and emotional factors relating to healthful school living. Scientifically accurate information enabling students to develop competency in making lifelong health decisions must be provided in the form of formal instruction and also through individual health counseling and group guidance.

The School Health Services program provides health for education and education for health. Teachers, parents, and the community are included in this effort, thus increasing the impact and opportunity for success of the School Health Services Program.

SCHOOL HEALTH SERVICES

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

The primary goals of the School Health Services Program are as follows:

• Students who function at their highest level of physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and intellectual health in order to obtain the maximum benefit from their educational opportunities

• Students with the knowledge and skills that enable them to develop sound health practices and competency in making positive lifelong health decisions

To achieve the goals of the School Health Services Program the following objectives have been defined:

• Provide systems for the identification and resolution of students’ health and educational problems

• Access school, family and community resources to assist students and families in preventing disease; promoting and protecting health and wellness; and minimizing the complications of health problems in the school population

• Provide mandated screenings, health appraisals, and immunization monitoring

• Provide a system for dealing with illness and injury

• Make recommendations to effect a safe and healthy school environment that facilitates learning

• Coordinate and provide comprehensive health education

• Provide a system for evaluating the School Health Services Program

SCHOOL HEALTH SERVICES

PROCEDURAL GUIDELINES - STATEMENT OF PURPOSE

These Procedural Guidelines are designed to provide School Health Services personnel in the City School District of Albany with specific information regarding District and Departmental policies and procedures. The intent is to provide a reference and assure consistency in the delivery of health services throughout the District. Though procedures are detailed, it is understood that the delivery of health services, particularly in cases of injury or illness, must be individualized to be effective. Professional judgment must be exercised when applying procedural guidelines.

The Guidelines also contain descriptions of the role and responsibilities of various Health Services personnel, New York State Education Department Laws and Regulations pertaining to School Health Services, Departmental forms, and recommendations for managing the delivery of health services.

These Procedural Guidelines are designed to assist the professional in fulfilling his/her role as a member of the School Health Services team.

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