HIBBING PUBLIC SCHOOLS
INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICT 701

BOARD POLICY 419
SERIES: 400 Employees/Personnel
SUBJECT: 419 Students and Employees With Communicable Diseases and Infectious Conditions
ADOPTED:  
REVISED:  


The school district shall not exclude students with communicable diseases from attending school in their usual daily attendance setting as long as their health permits and their attendance does not create a significant risk for the transmission of illness to students or employees of the school district.  Inclusion of students with communicable diseases shall provide for a review of the educational implications for the student and others with whom the student comes in contact.

The school district shall not exclude employees with communicable diseases from attending to their customary employment as long as they are physically, mentally, and emotionally able to safely perform tasks assigned to them and as long as their employment does not create a significant risk of the transmission of illness to student, employees, or others in the school district.  If a reasonable accommodation will eliminate the significant risk of transmission, such accommodation will be undertaken unless it poses an undue hardship to the school district.

Determination of whether a contagious individual’s school attendance or job performance creates a significant risk of the transmission of the illness to students or employees will be made on a case by case basis.  Such decisions will be based upon the nature of the risk (how it is transmitted), the duration of the risk (how long the carrier is infectious), the severity of the risk (what is the potential harm to third parties), and the probabilities the disease will be transmitted and will cause varying degrees of harm.   When a student is disabled, such a determination will be made in consultation with the educational planning team or district administrator.

The school board recognizes that some students and employees, because of special circumstances and conditions, may pose greater risks for the transmission of infectious conditions than other persons infected with the same illness.  Examples include students who display biting behavior, students or employees who are unable to control their bodily fluids, who have oozing skin lesions, or who have severe disorders which result in spontaneous external bleeding.  These conditions need to be considered in assessing the risk of transmission of the disease and the resulting effect upon the education program of the student or employment of the employee by consulting with the Commissioner of Health, the physician of the student or employee, and the parent(s)/guardian(s) of the student.

The school principal, along with the infected individual’s physician, the infected individual or parent(s)/guardian(s), and others, if appropriate, will weigh risks and benefits to the student and to others, consider the least restrictive appropriate educational placement, and arrange for periodic reevaluation as deemed necessary by the state epidemiologist.  The risks to the student shall be determined by the student’s physician.

The school district shall develop routine procedures for infection control at school and for educating employees about these procedures.  The procedures shall be developed through cooperation with health professionals taking into consideration guidelines of the Minnesota Department of Health and the Minnesota Department of Children, Families, and Learning.

The school district shall, with the assistance of the Commissioner of Health and Department of Education implement a program to prevent and reduce the risk of sexually transmitted diseases in accordance with Minnesota Statute, 1998, Section 121A.23.

The school district will develop procedures regarding the administration of Hepatitis B vaccinations and Tuberculosis containment in keeping with current state and federal law.




Legal References:
M.S. 121A.23 (Health-Related Programs)
M.S. Ch. 363 (Minnesota Human Rights Act)
M.S. 144.441-442 (Tuberculosis)
20 U.S.C. 401 et seq. (Individuals with Disabilities Employment Act)
29 U.S.C. 794 et seq. (504 of Rehabilitation Act of 1973)
42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq. (Americans with Disabilities Act)
Kohl by Kohl v. Woodhaven Learning Center, 865 F.2d 930 (8th Cir.) cert. denied, 493 U.S. 892, 110S. Ct. 239 (1989)
School Board of Nassau Cty., FL v. Arline, 480 U.S. 273, 107 S. Ct. 1123 (1987)
16 EHLR 712, OCR Staff Memo, April 5, 1990