2019 US Virgin Islands Code
Title 17 - Education
Chapter 10 - School Health Program
§ 111. Establishment of school health program, medical and dental tests
(a) The Commissioner of Education, with the collaboration of the Commissioner of Health as hereinafter provided, shall establish, maintain and administer a school health program in the Virgin Islands. Such program shall include; health services, health education and instruction, and healthful environment.
(b) In furtherance of the program authorized by subsection (a) of this section, health services shall include regular medical and dental health appraisals including tests and measurements, and treatments, and such preventive measures as vaccinations and other immunizations, and the taking of other measures for preventing the introduction or spread of communicable diseases as in the judgment of the Commissioner of Health are required in the interests of public health.
(c) Health services as prescribed by subsection (b) of this section shall be provided without cost and required of all pupils in the public, private and parochial; elementary and secondary schools, except as provided in section 114 of this chapter, immediately prior to or upon their entrance into kindergarten or the first grade, and upon entrance into the fifth and ninth grades and, irrespective of grade, immediately prior to or upon entrance into any public, private or parochial school if that pupil has not previously been examined in accordance with this section prior to or upon entrance into another public, private or parochial school in the Virgin Islands. Additional health appraisals and examinations of pupils may be required when deemed necessary by the Commissioner of Health.
(d) The Department of Education shall adopt rules and regulations that require all students participating in interscholastic athletic competitions or who are candidates for an interscholastic athletic team to satisfactorily pass a medical evaluation each year prior to participating in interscholastic athletic competitions or engaging in any practice, tryout, workout, or other physical activity associated with the student's candidacy for an interscholastic athletic team. Such medical evaluation can only be administered by a practitioner licensed to practice medicine in the Virgin Islands, and in good standing with the practitioner's regulatory board. The rules and regulations shall establish requirements for eliciting a student's medical history and performing the medical evaluation required under this paragraph, which shall include a physical assessment of the student's physical capabilities to participate in interscholastic athletic competitions as contained in a uniform pre-participation physical evaluation and history form. The evaluation form shall incorporate the recommendations of the American Heart Association for participation in cardiovascular screening, shall also include the recommendations for pre-participation physical evaluations adopted by the American Academy of Family Physicians, American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Sports Medicine, American Medical Society for Sports Medicine, American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine, and American Osteopathic Academy of Sports Medicine, and shall provide a place for the signature of the practitioner performing the evaluation with an attestation that each examination procedure listed on the form was performed by the practitioner or by someone under the direct supervision of the practitioner. The form shall also contain a place for the practitioner to indicate if a referral to another practitioner was made in lieu of completion of a certain examination procedure. The form shall provide a place for the practitioner to whom the student was referred to complete the remaining sections and attest to that portion of the examination. The pre-participation physical evaluation form shall advise students to complete a cardiovascular assessment and shall include information concerning alternative cardiovascular evaluation and diagnostic tests. Results of such medical evaluation must be provided to the school. No student shall be eligible to participate in any interscholastic athletic competition or engage in any practice, tryout, workout, or other physical activity associated with the student's candidacy for an interscholastic athletic team until the results of the medical evaluation have been received and approved by the school. The Commissioner of Education with the collaboration of the Commissioner of Health shall negotiate with an insurance provider for the medical evaluation to be included as part of the regular school insurance coverage.
(e) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (d), a student may participate in interscholastic athletic competition or be a candidate for an interscholastic athletic team if the parent of the student objects in writing to the student undergoing a medical evaluation because such evaluation is contrary to his or her religious tenets or practices. However, in such case, there shall be no liability on the part of any person or entity in a position to otherwise rely on the results of such medical evaluation for any damages resulting from the student's injury or death arising directly from the student's participation in interscholastic athletics where an undisclosed medical condition that would have been revealed in the medical evaluation is a proximate cause of the injury or death.
(f) All coaches attending interscholastic competitions, tryouts, workouts, or other physical activities associated with the student's candidacy for an interscholastic athletic team shall be trained and certified in administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation (“CPR”) and trained in the use of automated external defibrillators.
