Health & Wellness

NYS Health Screening | Health Forms | Body Mass Index (BMI) Information | Immunization Requirements | Medications in Schools | When to Keep Your Child Home| Child Abuse Hotline | Alcohol & Substance Abuse Help

NYS Health Screening

New York State schools are mandated by the Commissioner of Education to require each student enrolled in a public school to have a satisfactory health examination conducted by the student’s family physician, physician’s assistant or nurse practitioner upon the student’s entrance into Pre-Kindergarten or Kindergarten and grades 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11.

If your child will be entering a mandated grade in the fall, you are required to provide the district with a copy of a physical exam within 30 days of the start of the school year. This physical cannot be any more than 12 months old. If your child plans to play a sport, this exam will serve as a sports physical too. Below is a copy of the physical exam form to be completed by the student’s family physician, physician’s assistant or nurse practitioner.

Health Forms

• Required NYS Health Exam Form
• Dental Health Certificate
• Interval Health History for Athletics Form

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Body Mass Index (BMI) Information

As part of a required school health exam, a student is weighed and his/her height is measured. These numbers are used to figure out the student’s body mass index or ‘BMI.’ The BMI helps the doctor or nurse know if the student’s weight is in a healthy range, or is too high or too low. Recent changes to New York State Education Law require that BMI and weight status group be included as part of the student’s school health exam. Our school district has been selected to take part in a survey by the New York State Department of Health. We may be reporting information about the weight status groups for students who were in Pre-K, Kindergarten, and in grades 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 during the school year. Only summary information will be sent. No names and no information about individual students are sent. However, you may choose to have your child‘s information excluded from this survey report.

If your child is in one of the grades which will have BMI information reported on the state survey, and you do not wish to have your child’s weight status group information included in the survey, please submit a letter to the school nurse stating this. 

If you have any questions, contact your child’s school nurse for more information.

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Immunization Requirements

Children attending day care and pre-K to Grade 12 in New York State must receive all required doses of vaccines on the recommended schedule in order to attend or remain in school. This is true unless they have a valid medical exemption to immunization. This includes all public, private, and religious schools. A medical exemption is allowed when a child has a medical condition that prevents them from receiving a vaccine.

There are no non-medical exemptions to school vaccine requirements in NYS. 

As a reminder, immunization requirements for students must be met for school attendance. A student may not be permitted to attend school without proof of required immunizations. There is a 14-day grace period following the first day of school to provide documentation of required immunizations. For those students who are transferring from out-of-state or from another country and can show a good faith effort to get the necessary evidence of immunization(s), there is a 30-day grace period. If a student is excluded from school, the building principal will submit their name to the local Department of Health.

View 2024-25 Immunization Requirements.

Learn more about Immunization Requirements for New York State Schools.

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Medications in School

If your child needs to take medication during the school day, we’re here to help, but there are a few important steps to follow.

To ensure safety, parents or guardians must provide:

• A written order from a licensed NYS health care provider with the student’s name, medication details (name, dose, timing, possible side effects). View the Provider Authorization/Order Form.
• A signed note giving the school permission to administer the medication or help the student take it. View the Provider Attestation Form (Required for Independent Carry & Use of Medication).

Some students may be allowed to carry and use certain medications on their own (like inhalers, epinephrine auto-injectors, insulin, or glucagon) with written permission from both a doctor and a parent/guardian. The school nurse will also keep extra medication and supplies on hand if provided.

All medications must be brought to school by an adult in the original labeled container and will be stored securely in the nurse’s office. Any unused medication must be picked up by the end of the school year or it will be safely discarded.

If you have any questions, contact your child’s school nurse for more information.

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When to keep your child home

It can be hard to know when to send children to school if they tell you they do not feel well.

Please keep your child home and/or contact your child’s doctor for:

• Fever greater than 100.4° (taken by mouth). Do not give your child Tylenol or Motrin before school and send them.
• Vomiting or diarrhea within the last 24 hours. This includes during the night or the morning of school.
• Severe sore throat along with fever and feeling ill for more than 48 hours, or after exposure to Strep throat infection.
• Honey-crusted sores around the nose or mouth.
• Rashes on skin must be seen by your pediatrician. Note required from your doctor stating rash is not contagious.
• Large amounts of mucous (clear, yellow or green) from their nose.
• Constant coughing.
• If your child is asthmatic and requires nebulizer or inhaler treatments as frequent as every 3, 2, or 1 hour. Dot send them to school. Call you doctor, or take your child to Urgent Care or ER.
• Severe ear pain or fluid draining from the ear.
• Severe headache, especially with fever.
• Diarrhea and/or having to frequently use the bathroom for bowel movement.
• Complaints of dental pain. Swelling of one side of cheek – this could be an abscessed tooth. Call your dentist.
• Any eye drainage from eye(s) or red appearance of the white part of their eye(s). See your doctor or Urgent care to rule out contagious bacterial conjunctivitis. Student returns to school with note from health care professional stating drainage or redness is not contagious.

If your child has a fever it is not a good idea to give them medicine like Tylenol or Advil and send them to school because as soon as the medicine wears off, the fever may return and you will be called to come and pick up your child. Please keep children home for 24 hours after the fever ends, and/or they have completed 24 hours of medication if (antibiotic) prescribed by your health care provider.

If your child is diagnosed with bacterial conjunctivitis of his or her eye(s), they must receive the prescribed eye drops for 24 hours before returning to school.

If your child is diagnosed with strep throat, they must receive the prescribed antibiotic for 24 hours before returning to school.

Please teach and remind your child to:

• Throw away used tissues.
• Cover their mouths when they cough or sneeze with a bent arm into their elbow space.
• Always wash hands after using the bathroom.
• Keep their hands away from their face.
• Wash hands often with soap and warm water.

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