Each Pine-Richland School District Health Office is staffed on a full-time basis by a certified school nurse. Please contact your child's school nurse if you have questions related to School Health Services or, if you wish to share information concerning your child to help the School Nurse gain a better understanding of your child's personal health.

Quick Links

Annual Health Emergency Form

Health Screenings

Health & Wellness Policy (Newly Revised ~ 04/06!)

How Can you Determine Whether Your Child Is Overweight?

Ilness: Keeping Your Child Home From School

Immunization Requirements

Annual Health Emergency Form

Entrance Requirements

Familes moving into the Pine-Richland School District, must bring a copy of each childÌs immunizations with you at the time of registration The grade level appropriate health exam forms will be given to you at registration.

Immunization Requirements

The following immunizations are required for attendance at any school in Pennsylvania. Proof of immunization is required prior to attendance in school. Download the latest requirements by clicking here.

All Grades K-12  

•  4 doses of diphtheria/4 doses of tetanus vaccine DPT or DT (one given after 4th birthday); 3 does if series started after age 7
•  3 doses of polio vaccine
•  2 doses of measles
• 2 doses of mumps
• 1 dose of rubella (MMR) 

•  3 doses of Hepatitis B, properly spaced
•  2 doses of varicella or written statement from physician/designee indicating month and year of disease or serologic proof of immunity
  
  Grades 7-12
• 1 dose of tetanus/diphtheria/pertussis (Tdap)
• 1 dose of meningitis vaccine (MCV4)

The school nurse maintains an official Pennsylvania immunization record for each student. When your child receives additional immunizations, please send the information to the school nurse so your childÌs record may be updated.

Immunizations are available free of charge through the

Allegheny County Health Department 412-687-2243

Health Screenings

Pennsylvania law requires health screenings to be conducted in specific grades. These screenings are done by the school nurses. Click here for a Health Screening Permission Form.

Height and weight

•  Checked annually, in Kindergarten through grade 12

Vision

•  Checked annually, in Kindergarten through grade 12
• You may request a vision screening at any time if you suspect that your child may have a problem.

Hearing

•  Checked in Kindergarten and grades 1, 2, 3, 7 and 11
• You may request a hearing screening at any time if you suspect that your child may have a problem.

Scoliosis

• The purpose of the scoliosis screening is to detect any abnormal curvature of the spine. State law requires a scoliosis screening in grades 6 and 7. The sixth grade scoliosis screening is generally done as part of the required physical exam. Pine-Richland nurses also perform scoliosis screenings in grades 5 and 9, as per Board policy.

Health History - Parents/Guardians complete this health history form regarding your child.

Physical Exam    Physical Exam form

• Required of students entering Kindergarten and in grades 6 and 11 *

It is recommended that this exam be performed by your private physician who is more familiar with your childÌs medical history. The required physical exam form can be obtained from your child's school nurse or downloaded from this site. The private exam may be done within one year from the start of the school year. ExampleÛschool starts September, 2004, the exam date can be as early as September, 2003.

* In grade 11, a sports physical can also be used for the required school physical.

Dental exam  Dental Exam form

Required of students entering Kindergarten and in grades 3 and 7.

It is recommended that this exam be performed by your private dentist. The required dental form can be obtained from the your child's school nurse or downloaded from this site. The private exam may be within one year from the start of the school year. ExampleÛschool starts September, 2004, the exam date can be as early as September, 2003.

Students who do not return a completed private physical or dental exam form will be scheduled with the school doctor or dentist. Parents will receive ample notification of exam dates. Parental consent is required in order for your child to receive a school exam.

What does a referral mean?

If you receive a referral form after any school screening, it means that the screening detected a possible problem and further evaluation by a professional health care provider is recommended. The form is to be completed by your private physician, dentist or eye doctor and returned to the school nurse. As always, if you have any question, contact the school nurse.

Medication policy

The board policy concerning Use of Medications (Policy: Pupils, # 210 ) can be viewed on this web site. If your child must take prescribed medication during the school day - please have this form completed and returned to the School Nurse, with the medication in a prescription labeled container.   Prescribed Medication form

ILLNESS: KEEPING YOUR CHILD HOME FROM SCHOOL

Upon occasion, it is necessary for your child to remain home due to an illness. The following guidelines should be followed when determining whether to keep your child home:

• Your child should not be sent to school hoping that he or she will feel better after arriving.
• Your child should be kept home following a nighttime bout of nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea and watched for further symptoms.
• Your child should remain home if he/she has had a temperature of 100 degrees or higher. A child should have a normal temperature for 24 hours before returning to school.
• Do not send your child to school if he/she is taking prescription pain medication.

COMMUNICABLE DISEASES

Parents often ask about sending their child to schools with a communicable disease. The Pennsylvania Department of Health offers the following guidelines and exclusion periods:

• Pink Eye: 24 hours after initiation of treatment
• Strep Throat, Scarlet Fever: 24 hours after initiation of treatment
• Lice: Until treated with a pediculicidal agent. Students who have been excluded must be checked by the School Nurse and found to be free of lice eggs before re-entering the building.
• Chicken Pox: Six days from the outbreak of the last crop of blisters with all pox marks dried
• Impetigo, scabies and ringworm: Until judged non-infectious by the physician

How Can you Determine Whether Your Child Is Overweight?

The most obvious answer to this question is to do an "eye-ball" test–simply looking at your child to determine whether his or her weight and height are out of proportion. If you believe your child is overweight, ask your school nurse, doctor, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant to evaluate your child.

There is another more objective measure to use to tell if your child is overweight and at risk for health and nutritional disorders. This is the BMI, or Body Mass Index. A BMI is not a measure of percent body fat, but an expression of relationships of a person’s weight to his or her height. Standard charts, based on children’s age and gender similar to those used in doctor’s offices to plot children’s growth, are used to plot the BMI. This plot allows one to get a percentile that indicates whether a child is underweight, normal weight, at risk for overweight, or overweight.

Exactly how to determine and plot your child’s BMI percentile to assess his or her level of health risk for over or under weight can be found on the Centers for Disease Control web site: www.cdc.gov. Your school nurse can help you do this as well.

*Note that the procedures for determining a child’s BMI differs from those for adults and require use of appropriate charts based on age and gender. BMI calculations for children are assessed based on a percentile for age and BMI.

Source: NASA.(2003). Promoting Healthy Weight. Castle Rock, CO:

Health & Wellness Policy

The district revised its Health & Wellness Policy. You can click here to read more about the updated policy and its guidelines.