Carbondale Elementary School District 95-Illinois

The Superintendent shall develop and implement procedures for dealing with known or suspected cases of a communicable and chronic infectious disease (as defined by the Ill. Dept. of Public Health)1 involving a District 95 employee consistent with State and Federal law, rules of the Illinois Department of Public Health, and School Board policies.2

An employee with a communicable or chronic infectious disease shall be evaluated by the District's Superintendent and the employee, and a representative selected by each if so desired by the employee. The employee's medical condition shall be held in strictest confidence by the Superintendent, with only the employee's direct supervisors being informed of the employee's medical condition if deemed necessary by the Superintendent.

Employees with a communicable or chronic infectious disease will be permitted to retain their positions whenever, after reasonable accommodations, if necessary, and without undue hardship, there is no substantial risk of transmission of the disease to others, provided an employee is able to continue to perform the position's essential functions.3 Employees who cannot retain their positions shall remain subject to the Board's employment policies including sick leave, physical examinations, temporary and permanent disability, and termination. Determining whether an employee with a communicable or chronic infectious disease may retain his/her position will be made in accordance with established procedures and applicable laws.

The recommendation of whether the employee's placement is appropriate shall be made on a case-by-case basis by the District's Superintendent.

When the building principal receives notification that a child in the District has been diagnosed as having a contagious disease, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), AIDS-Related Complex (ARC), or Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), the principal shall immediately notify the Superintendent of the child's identity.4 The principal may, as necessary, disclose the identity of the infected child to those persons who, by Federal or State law, are required to decide the placement or educational program of the child, the school nurse, and the applicable classroom teachers. Others may be informed as necessary, provided the child's identity is not revealed.5

The administration shall observe all rules of the Illinois Department of Public Health regarding communicable or chronic infectious disease. The Superintendent shall develop and implement procedures for the District to report to the local health authority, where appropriate, known or suspected cases of a communicable and chronic infectious disease involving a District student. The collection and maintenance of the student's medical information shall be done in a manner which ensures the strictest confidentiality and is in accordance with Federal and State laws regarding student records.

The determination of whether the student with a communicable and chronic infectious disease shall be permitted to attend school in a regular classroom setting or participate in school activities with other students shall be made on a case-by-case basis by the Superintendent and/or designee, the building principal and/or designee, the child's parent(s)/guardians, the student's personal physician, the Jackson County Health Department, and the Multi-Disciplinary Committee, if applicable.

If the infected student is not permitted to attend school in a regular classroom or participate in school activities with other students, due to a determination that s/he poses a high risk or transmission of a communicable and chronic infectious disease to the students and staff, every reasonable effort shall be made to provide this student with an adequate alternative education. State regulations and school policy regarding homebound instruction shall apply. Temporary removal of the student from the District's classroom(s) may be appropriate when:

the student lacks control of bodily secretions;

the student has open sores that cannot be covered;

the student demonstrates behavior (e.g., biting) which would result in direct inoculation of potentially infected body fluids into the bloodstream.

Temporary removal of the student from the classroom for those reasons listed above is not to be construed as the only response to reduce risk of transmission of a communicable and chronic infectious disease. The District shall be flexible in its response and attempt to use the least restrictive means to accommodate the student's needs.

The removal of a student with a communicable and chronic infectious disease from normal school attendance shall be reviewed by the Superintendent and/or designee, in consultation with the student's personal physician and Jackson County Health department at least once every month to determine whether the condition precipitating the removal has changed.

When a student returns to school after an absence due to a communicable and chronic infectious disease, the school administration may require that s/he present a certificate from a physician licensed in the State of Illinois stating that the student qualifies for re-admission to school under the rules of the Illinois Department of Public Health which regulate periods of incubation, communicability, quarantine, and reporting.

If the parent(s)/guardian(s) disagree with the student's alternative educational placement or program, they shall be offered the opportunity to an appeal to the School Board within ten (10) days of their notification of the decision of the Superintendent and/or designee.

The Superintendent and/or designee shall be responsible for communicating and interpreting the District's communicable and chronic infectious disease policies and procedures to District 95's personnel, parents, students, and community persons.

The following procedures will be implemented when a District 95 employee has a communicable and/or chronic infectious disease. A copy of the procedures will be given to the employee.

Evaluation of the employee's condition

	A.	The employee who has a communicable and/or chronic infectious disease shall inform the Superintendent immediately; or the Superintendent will contact an employee suspected of having a communicable and/or chronic infectious disease. All communications will be in strictest confidence.6 </
	B.	The employee will be conferenced by the Superintendent in a timely manner. </
	C.	The Superintendent will evaluate the status of the employee's health. </
	D.	The employee will be informed, in writing, of the Superintendent's findings and/or recommendations from the evaluation. </
	E.	The employee may be required to submit to a physical examination, given by a physician chosen and paid for by the District.7 </

Monitoring employee's condition

The employee's health condition will be reviewed on a schedule determined by the Superintendent and the employee, as prescribed by the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Each status report will indicate an employment recommendation for the employee, such as:8

		1.	continued employment at the same position, with possible accommodations; </
		2.	continued employment but transfer to another position, with possible accommodations; </
		3.	temporary exclusion from the work place; </
		4.	dismissal. </

Employee Dismissal

An employee on contractual continued service shall be dismissed in accordance with 105 ILCS 5/24-12.

An employee not on contractual continued service shall be dismissed in accordance with the law or policy applicable to his/her position.

Confidentiality9

The employee's medical condition shall be held in strictest confidence by the Superintendent and shared only with the employee's direct supervisor and only when deemed necessary. The employee's physical forms and physician's release forms pertaining to the communicable and/or chronic infectious disease will not become part of the employee's personnel file.

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1 Chronic Infectious Disease: Those select diseases which maintain the possibility of infecting, or being spread by an infected person, over a person's lifetime. The most obvious example would be HIV/AIDS, where the possibility to infect others remains constant until death. A less obvious example would be chronic Hepatitis B, which has the potential to infect others as long as the infected person continues to have the disease at various times throughout his/her lifetime.

2 District employment is contingent upon satisfactory results of a physical examination and freedom from communicable diseases (105 ILCS 5/24-5). The U.S. Supreme Court, however, has held that the Rehabilitation Act prohibits discrimination against a person handicapped by a communicable disease, provided that person is "otherwise qualified" to perform the job. School Bd. of Nassau County, Fl., vs. Arline, 107 S.Ct. 11233 (1987) (teacher with tuberculosis was protected by the Rehabilitation Act). The decision supports the position that an AIDS-afflicted employee or applicant who is "otherwise qualified" to perform the job must be reasonably accommodated despite having AIDS. The American with Disabilities Act may also protect an AIDS-afflicted employee or applicant (42 U.S.C. 12102).

3 Required by 42 U.S.C. 12101 et. seq.

4 410 ILCS 315/2a (ch. 111 1/2, 22.12a).

5 ld.

6 The American with Disabilities Act (ADA) specifies that only an employee's direct supervisor and someone who would need to know in the event of an emergency may have access to an employee's medical records (42 U.S.C. 12112(d). The Superintendent's ability to operate may depend on the employee's waiver of the ADA's confidentiality provisions.

7 The State law (105 ILCS 5/24-5), allowing boards to require physicals of current employees "from time to time" has been superseded by Federal law (ADA, 42 U.S.C. 12112(d)(4). The ADA allows medical inquiries of current employees only when they are job-related and consistent with business necessity or part of a voluntary employee wellness program. ld. Districts may deny jobs to individuals with disabilities who pose a direct threat to the health or safety of others in the workplace, provided that a reasonable accommodation would not either eliminate the risk or reduce it to an acceptable level (42 U.S.C. 12113;29 C.F.R. Part 1630.2(r).

8 A District must make reasonable accommodation to a known physical or mental limitation of an otherwise qualified employee, unless it can show that the accommodation would impose an undue hardship of the District's operation (ADA, 42 U.S.C. 12112 and 12113).

9 The ADA specifies that only an employee's direct supervisor and someone who would need to know in the event of an emergency may have access to an employee's medical records (42 U.S.C. 12112(d)(3). The Superintendent's ability to operate may depend on the employee's waiver of the ADA's confidentiality provisions.

105/10-22.39

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