LifeServe Blood Center

Representatives from LifeServe Blood Center will be at Le Mars Community High School to accept donations on Wednesday, April 3, 2013 from 9:00 am until 2:30 pm. This blood drive is open to qualifying students and staff. Students who wish to participate must be 16 years of age or older, weigh at least 120 pounds, eat a good meal prior to donating, and be in good health. Also repeat donors must have at least 56 days between donations. Parent/guardians will be required to sign a permission slip in order for their student to participate. Students must have identification with them on the day of donation. A sign-up sheet will be located in the High School Principal's office. If you have any questions, please contact Stephanie Feenstra, school nurse, at 546-4153.

Dental Screening!

All children enrolled in kindergarten or 9th grade at an Iowa school are required
to have a dental screening. This requirement was passed by the 2007 legislature
and became effective July 1, 2008. The purpose of the dental screening requirement is to improve the oral health of Iowa's children. Dental screenings help with
early detection and treatment of dental disease; reduce the incidence, impact, and
cost of dental disease; inform parents and guardians of their children's dental
problems; promote the importance of oral health for school readiness and learning, and contribute to statewide surveillance of oral health.
Based on new legislation and administrative rules, dental screenings are due in the
nurse’s office before December 14, 2012. If you have any questions please contact
your school nurse.

Hearing Screening

The Northwest Area Education Agency will be conducting hearing screenings at the Middle School and High School on January 19th and 25th ,2012. All 8th grade students and any student new to the district will be screened. If you do not wish for your child to receive these servieces, please notify Stephanie Feenstra , MS/HS nurse at 546-7022. These servives are provided at no cost to you.

Immunization Laws

Parents of Juniors and Seniors:

The immunization laws have changed since your student started
school 12 years ago. Most colleges now require updated vaccinations
in order to enroll in classes. Your student might be missing
any of the following:
-

Hepatitis B - a 3 shot series given over 6 months
- MMR - a second MMR after the age of 4 years old
-Tetanus - needs to be updated every 10 years
Also most colleges recommend a Meningococcal vaccine for all
incoming freshman.
If you are unsure about your student’s immunization status, now
would be a good time to contact your family physician. If you
have any questions, please contact Stephanie Feenstra, the High
School Nurse at 546-4153.

Kindergarten and 9th Grade Parents

All children enrolled in kindergarten or 9th grade at an Iowa school are required to have a dental screening. This requirement was passed by the 2007 legislature and be-came effective July 1, 2008. The purpose of the dental screening requirement is to improve the oral health of Iowa's children. Dental screenings help with early detection and treatment of dental disease; reduce the incidence, impact, and cost of dental dis-ease; inform parents and guardians of their children's dental problems; promote the importance of oral health for school readiness and learning; and contribute to state-wide surveillance of oral health.

Based on new legislation and administrative rules, dental screenings are due in the nurse’s office before December 21, 2011. If you have any questions please contact your school nurse.

Attention Parents: Flu season is fast approaching. In order to prevent the spread of illness, please do not send your student to school sick. School policy says, students are not to return to classes until they are without fever or vomiting for 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medications. If you have any questions please call your school nurses, Jolynn Sitzmann or Stephanie Feenstra.

It is recommended that all children receive a dose of Tdap when they are 11-12 years of age. If they have received a dose of Td, they should wait at least five years to re-ceive the Tdap. Iowa has been seeing Pertussis (whooping cough) recently and we feel it is important to protect our children.

The Public Health nurse will be offering this immunization for 6th-9th grade students this year. The school sent information home with your student’s mid-term grades. If you are interested in having your child immunized at school, please complete the au-thorization form and return it to the school by October 8.

Information will also be posted on the school’s website.
Thank you,
Stephanie N. Feenstra, RN MS/HS school nurse Le Mars Community Schools

Human Growth and Development Notification

All Iowa public school districts are required to provide instruction in Human Growth and Development, including instruction regarding hu-man sexuality, self-esteem, stress management, interpersonal relation-ships and HIV/AID in grades one through twelve. The law also re-quires schools to annually provide parents/guardians with information about this requirement to include the procedure by which parents/guardians may inspect instructional materials prior to them being util-ized in the classroom. A student shall not be required to take instruc-tion in Human Growth and Devel-opment if the student’s parent/
guardian files with the principal a written request that a student be excused from the instruction. Parents/guardians are hereby advised that prior to their student receiving Human Growth and Devel-opment instruction, they will receive notice from the principal and upon receipt of notice, they should im-mediately contact the ap-propriate principal(s) if they want to inspect the materials to be utilized for instruction.

Prescription and Non-prescription Medicine

Parents and guardians are advised that effective with the 1999-2000 school year, the school will not provide non-prescription medications such as Tylenol, Advil, etc. for students. We have been advised that these medications must be included under the same regula-tions that govern the school administration of prescrip-tion medications. Medications shall not be adminis-tered to students without written authorization from a parent or legal caretaker. All medications must be in their original containers with original labeling. Prescrip-tion medication labels must include name of student, name of medication, and administration instructions to include frequency, dosage, and duration. Medications will be appropriately and securely stored in the school nurse office. Students may not carry their own medica-tions at school without written authorization from a parent or legal caretaker and approval of the building principal.

General Info

Take the following steps to help keep students, teachers, and staff from getting sick with flu. 
These steps should be followed ALL the time and not only during a flu pandemic.

• Educate and encourage students and staff to cover their mouth and nose with a tissue when they cough or sneeze. Also, provide them with easy access to tissues and running water and soap or alcohol-based hand cleaners.  Remind them to cover coughs or sneezes using their elbow instead of their hand when a tissue is not available.
• Remind teachers, staff, and students to practice good hand hygiene and provide the time and supplies for them to wash their hands as often as necessary.
• Send sick students, teachers, and staff home and advise them and their families that sick people should stay at home until at least 24 hours after they no longer have a fever or signs of a fever (without the use of fever-reducing medicine).
• Clean surfaces and items that are more likely to have frequent hand contact such as desks, door knobs, keyboards, or pens, with cleaning agents that are usually used in these areas.
• Move students, teachers, and staff to a separate room if they become sick at school until they can be sent home. Limit the number of staff who take care of the sick person and provide a surgical mask for the sick person to wear if they can tolerate it.
• Have Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) such as masks available and ensure the equipment is worn by school nurses and other staff caring for sick people at school.
• Encourage early medical evaluation for sick students and staff at higher risk of complications from flu.  People at high risk of flu complications who get sick will benefit from early treatment with antiviral medicines.
• Stay in regular communication with local public health officials.

If the flu conditions become MORE severe, schools should consider adding the following steps:

• Extend the time sick students, teachers, or staff stay home for at least 7 days, even if they feel better sooner. Those who are still sick after 7 days should continue to stay home until at least 24 hours after symptoms have gone away.
• Allow high-risk students, teachers, and staff to stay home.  These students, teachers, and staff should make this decision in consultation with their physician and/or health professional.
• Conduct active fever and symptom screening of students, teachers, and staff upon arrival at school. Any sick students, teacher, or staff should be separated from others, offered a surgical mask, and sent home.
• Find ways to increase social distances (the space between people) at school such as rotating teachers between classrooms while keeping the same group of students in one classroom, moving desks farther apart, or postponing class trips.

For more information:
Visit: www.flu.gov
Contact CDC 24 Hours/Every Day
1-800-CDC-INFO (232-4636)
TTY: (888)232-6348
cdcinfo@cdc.gov