Health Services : Guidelines & Policies

Health Issues

If a student becomes ill or injured at school and needs to leave school, the parent will be contacted.  In case a parent cannot be reached, the office must have the phone number of a responsible person who can be reached at all times who will assume temporary care of your child.  In emergency situations, when parents or a responsible person cannot be reached, medical attention will be provided at a medical facility at the parent's expense.  Patents of students with communicable or contagious diseases are asked to notify the nurses' office of the disease.  Students with fever should not return to school until they are fever-free for 24 hours

Emergency Information Form

All students are required to have an emergency information form on file in the nurse's office.  Please list at least three neighbors or nearby relatives who will assume temporary care of your child if you cannot be reached.  If you have a change of address or need to include another emergency number, please contact the school nurse so that the emergency form can be updated.  Please include any medical problems that your child may have.

Chronic Medical Problems

If a student has an ongoing medical problem which requires special attention and/or restrictions at school, parents will need to furnish the school with an updated written note from the physician at the beginning of each school year and additional information as needed.

Medical Guidelines

Please do not send your child to school if the following exist:

  1. Fever of 100.4 degrees or greater.  Please do not give aspirin, Tylenol, etc. for fever before sending your child to school.
  2. Vomiting
  3. Diarrhea

Health Clinics that Offer Influenza Vaccines

Bell County Health Department
509 S. 9th Street
Temple, Texas
778-4766

King's Daughters' Clinic
1300 E. 6th Avenue
Belton, Texas
939-3715

Scott & White--Belton Clinic
1505 N. Main
Belton, Texas
933-4000

Physical Screening

As a required state law, the following health appraisals will be conducted on students of BISD:

  1. Vision and hearing screenings will be conducted on all students in grades Pre-K, K, 1st, 3rd, 5th,and 7th as well as all students who are new to Texas.  Students, parents, and teachers may request screening anytime during the school year.  If problems are found, a parent/guardian will be notified by letter and/or by phone.
  2. Spinal screening will be conducted on all 5th & 8th grade students and students in grades 6th & 9th who were not screened in the prior school year.  If medical problems are found, parent/guardian will be notified by letter and/or by phone.  If you do not want your child's spine checked by the school health service, staff, you must provide the school nurse with documentation of results from your physician by the end of the first semester.

Medications

All medicine must be kept in the nurse's office. We strongly suggest that parents bring all medication to the school nurse rather than transporting it on the school bus or sending it with your child. District employees will not give a student prescription medication, nonprescription medication, herbal substances, anabolic steroids, or dietary supplements, with the following exceptions:

Only authorized employees, in accordance with policies at FFAC, may administer:

  • prescription medication, in the original, properly labeled container, provided by the parent, along with a written request from parent and a physician
  • prescription medication from a properly labeled unit dosage container filled by a registered nurse or another qualified district employee from the original, properly labeled container
  • nonprescription medication at high school and middle schools may be administered if in the original, properly labeled container, provided by the parent along with the parent's written request. Medication shall be administered according to the package directions, not to exceed 10 consecutive days, unless written permission from a physician is obtained. Parents are responsible for the quality of the medications and any potential interactions with other medications the child may be taking. Nurses may use their discretion prior to administering medicaiton
  • Herbal or dietary supplements provided by the parent only if required by the student's IEP or 504 plan

Nonprescription medication will NOT be gvien at elementary campuses without parent and physician written request. The medication would need to be in the original container and provided by parent. This includes all over-the-counter medication such as aspirin, Tylenol, antihistamines, throat lozenges, cough syrup, cough drops, tec.

A student with asthma may be permitted to possess and use prescribed asthma medication at school or school-related events only if student has written authorization form parent and a physician. The student and parents should discuss this with the school nurse if the student has been prescribed asthma medication for use during the school day.

In accordance with a student's individual health plan for management of diabetes, a student with diabetes will be permitted to possess and use monitoring and treatment supplies and equipment while at school or at a school-related activity. See the school nurse or principal for information.

Drug Safety Tip Line

Call toll -free: 1-877-277-3812         Or on the web: www.ChooseToCare.com

Choose-To-Care is both a call-in and web-based "tip-line" program for students, parents, and Belton ISD employees to provide information about student safety issues. Choose-To-Care is not meant to replace the one-to-one relationship between administrators, faculty, and students, but allows for anonymous reporting to be monitored by Belton ISD personnel.  Parents are encouraged to fill out the School Safety and Drug Assessment Survey by March 13, 2009, by accessing the ChooseToCare website, choose School Safety Survey, enter Key 61X8N6, and take the survey.

Sex Education

         www.worththewait.org

Worth the Wait is the sex education program developed by Scott and White, which Belton ISD uses for grades six and above. Parents are encouraged to access this website to be informed about the material presented.

CATCH Program

The CATCH Program (Coordinated Approach to Child Health) is "catching on" in Belton ISD.   The program creates a coordinated effort in school classrooms, in PE classes, on playgrounds, and in cafeterias, as well as information for parents to use at home, to help children and their families adopt healthy eating and physical activity behaviors.   CATCH was the largest school-based health promotion study ever conducted in the United States.   As reported in the "Journal of the American Medical Association." CATCH showed that eating and physical activity behaviors can change for the better.
For additional information go to www.catchtexas.org.

CATCH is:

*A school health program for elementary-aged children;

*A proven program to help schools reach the goals of increasing physical activity during PE, providing children with nutrition knowledge and skills, and reducting the amount of fat and saturated fat in school lunches;

*A coordinated effort that integrates a classroom health education curriculum, physical education, the school cafeteria, and family involvement and support.

Parents can help by:

*Encouraging more physical activity and less television watching;

*Serving nutritious foods, and discouraging overeating;

*Engaging in physical activity as a family;

*Helping with CATCH Home Team assignments;

*Support CATCH efforts at school;

*Sending health snacks to school.

Implementation of the CATCH program can significantly lower the amount of saturated fat content in school lunches, increase the level of physical activity during PE classes, and increase nutrition knowledge.   In addition, CATCH has been approved the Texas Education Agency as a program that meets the requirements of Senate Bill 19, and it was unanimously approved by the Texas State Board of Education as a diabetes education program.  

For more information on program implementation, parents are encouraged to contact their child's campus principal.