The Board encourages parents and students to preserve and protect each student’s general health. The Board will, therefore, recommend that each child should have a complete physical examination by a licensed physician upon entrance to the kindergarten or first grade, and upon entering fourth, eighth and twelfth grades. All new entrants to the school system will also receive a recommendation for a physical examination.

Any child entering school or an early childhood program in the District, shall, prior to admission, be required to present to the appropriate school authorities certification from a licensed physician that the child has received or is in the process of receiving adequate immunization against poliomyelitis, diphtheria, pertussis, rubeola, rubella, mumps, tetanus, meningitis, and varicella, according to recommendations provided by the Department of Health. The Department of Health may modify or delete any of the required immunizations. As an alternative to the requirement for a physician’s certification, the child may present:

1. certification from a licensed physician stating the physical condition of the child would be such that immunization would endanger the child’s life or health; or

2. a written statement signed by one parent or guardian that the child is an adherent to a religious doctrine whose teachings are opposed to such immunization;

Any child entering an early childhood program, kindergarten, sixth grade, and any student transferring into the District, shall present such certification as required by the S.D. Department of Health regulations unless a medical or religious exemption authorized by Department of Health regulations applies.

Physical examinations may also be required for all students who participate in interscholastic athletics and other school activities.

Annually, students will also be subject to routine health screenings for hearing and visual acuity, and dental, scoliosis, and communicable diseases.

Pursuant to state law, the school board or superintendent may, with the concurrence of the county health officer, exclude from school attendance a student who is determined to be a risk or nuisance to the health of other students or school employees due to the presence of infectious disease or communicable parasite. A student may be readmitted when the school board or school superintendent, with the concurrence of the county health officer, determines that the state of communicability or infectiousness no longer exists.