(a) This section shall be known and may be cited as the “Hughes Children’s Health Enforcement Act.”
(b) The Legislature recognizes the importance of health to learning and to a successful academic career. The Legislature also recognizes the important role of schools in ensuring the health of pupils through health education and the maintenance of minimal health standards among the pupil population. Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature that schools ensure that pupils receive a health screening before the end of the first grade.
(c) The governing board of each school district shall exclude from school, for not more than five days, any first grade pupil who has not provided either a certificate or a waiver, as specified in Section 124085, on or before the 90th day after the pupil’s entrance into the first grade. The exclusion shall commence with the 91st calendar day after the pupil’s entrance into the first grade, unless school is not in session that day, then the exclusion shall commence on the next succeeding schoolday. A child shall not be excluded under this section if the pupil’s parent or guardian provides to the district either a certificate or a waiver as specified in Section 124085.
(d) The governing board of a school district may exempt any pupil from the exclusion described in subdivision (c) if, at least twice between the first day and the 90th day after the pupil’s entrance into the first grade, the district has contacted the pupil’s parent or guardian and the parent or guardian refuses to provide either a certificate or a waiver as specified in Section 124085. The number of exemptions from exclusion granted by a school district pursuant to this subdivision may not exceed 5 percent of a school district’s first grade enrollment. It is the intent of the Legislature that exemptions from exclusion be used in extraordinary circumstances, including, but not limited to, family situations of great dysfunction or disruption, including substance abuse by parents or guardians, child abuse, or child neglect.
(e) It is the intent of the Legislature that, upon a pupil’s enrollment in kindergarten or first grade, the governing board of the school district notify the pupil’s parent or guardian of the obligation to comply with Section 124085 and of the availability for low-income children of free health screening for up to 18 months prior to entry into first grade through the Child Health Disabilities Prevention Program.
(f) It is the intent of the Legislature that school districts provide information to parents regarding the requirements of Section 124085 within the notification of immunization requirements. Moreover, the Legislature intends that the information sent to parents encourage parents to obtain health screenings simultaneously with immunizations.
(Amended by Stats. 2004, Ch. 895, Sec. 16. Effective January 1, 2005.)