The District considers concussions and head injuries serious matters, and will follow all laws and regulations regarding the identification and management of such injuries. The District shall provide annually to each parent or guardian of each student in grades seven through twelve a concussions and brain injury information sheet, as provided by the Iowa Department of Public Health, the Iowa High School Athletic Association, and the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union. The student and the student’s parent or guardian shall sign the sheet and return it to the District prior to the student’s participation in any extra-curricular interscholastic activity.
If a student’s coach or activity sponsor observes signs, symptoms or behaviors consistent with a concussion or brain injury during an extra-curricular interscholastic activity, the student shall be immediately removed from the activity. Extra-curricular interscholastic activity means any dance or cheerleading activity or extracurricular interscholastic activity, contest or practice governed by the Iowa High School Athletic Association or the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union that is a contact or limited contact activity as identified by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The student’s parent or guardian shall be contacted as soon as possible following the injury, and told that the student cannot return to participate in the activity until evaluated by an appropriate health-care professional. The student shall not return to participate in the activity or practice on the same day of a concussion. The student shall not return to participation in an extracurricular interscholastic activity, contest or practice until a written clearance to participation signed by the appropriate health care provider is given to the district. The student shall be examined by an appropriate health-care professional the same day the injury occurs. A licensed health care provider means a physician, physician’s assistant, chiropractor, advanced registered nurse practitioner, nurse, physical therapist or licensed athletic trainer. There may be situations when the Iowa High School Athletic Association, Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union and/or the District specifically designates individuals to act as the health-care professional during an activity or event. In such situations, the Iowa High School Athletic Association’s, the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union’s, and/or the District’s decision regarding the designation of the health-care professional is final. The written release shall be maintained as part of the student’s cumulative record.
For students who participate in an extracurricular interscholastic activity which is a contest in grades seven through twelve, the District shall adopt a return to play protocol consistent with the Department of Public Health’s rules and a return to learn plan based on guidance developed by the Brain Injury Association of America in cooperation with a student removed from participation in an extracurricular interscholastic activity and diagnosed with a concussion or brain injury, the student’s parent or guardian, and the student’s licensed health care provider to accommodate the student as the student returns to the classroom.
Approved: November 25, 2019