Amicus Curiae Brief — School Bd. of Nassau Cty. v. Arline
Supreme Court brief1987
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HER AUTHORITIES:
ation of Section 504
r tne Renabilitation ACT
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[| TUBERCULOSIS IS A “HANDICAP” UNDER
SECTION 504
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LI1. INFECTIOUSNESS OF THE EMPLOYEE’
DISEASE IS A LEGITIMATE JOB
UISQUALIFICATION.
A. An employer may consider an
individual's physical health in
determining whether the person
1S Qualified for a position.
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The lower court takes the view that
because Ms. Ariine's handicapping
CONdition does not relate to her academic
qualifications for the job, that condition
Cannot be taken Into account in
determining whether she jis “otherwise
Qualified" for the position. The error of
this rationale is clear. Certainly no one
would seriously disagree that a teacher,
who intentionally assaults and batters her
Students, is unqualified for the position.
Similarly, dq teacher who transmits a
serious disease to her Students lacks a
crucial job qualification.
This Court has recognized that a
recipient of federal funds is justified in
taking the health of an applicant into
account tn determining whether the person
1s “otherwise qualified.” In Southeastern
Community College v. Davis, 442 U.S. 403
1979), this Court -upheld a ¢col
right to take physical limitations into
account in determining “qualification” for
admission to the college's nursing school:
"Taken literally, [the court
of appeals'] holding would
prevent an institution from
taking into account any
limitation resulting from the
Nandicap, however disabling.
It assumes, in effect, that a
person need not meet
legitimate physical
requirements in order to be
‘otherwise qualified.’...An
otherwise qualified person 1s
one who is able to meet ail of
a program's requirements in
spite of his handicap." Id. at
page 4U6,
Regulatory provisions inder the
Rehabilitation Act also provide support
for an employer's considering a person's
physical condition in making employment
decisions,
The pre-employment section of the
Department of Education regulation
authorizes employers to condition
et oe
employment on the results of a medical
examination. 34 C.F.R. section 104.14(c).,
Likewise, the Department of Labor
regulations under section 503 allow
federal contractors to apply physical or
mental job qualification requirements in
the selection of applicants for jobs or in
making other changes in employment status
such aS promotion, demotion or training.
The regulation recognizes that Such
requirements may “tend to screen out
qualified Nandicapped individuals" but
nonetheless permits contractors to use
them so long as the requirements can be
Shown to be job related and “consistent
with business necessity and Safe
performance of the job." Under the
regulation contractors may also require
comprehensive medical examinations prior
to employment. 4| Der om section
60-741.6(c)
Analogous to employees with
contagious diseases are employees who are
drug or alcohol abusers. In it discussion
of drug and alcoho! abusers in its Section
904 regulation, the Department of Healt
t
J
Education and Welfare's takes the position
that an employer may take into account the
fact that, because of his or her handicap,
an employee poses a danger to others.
"The fact that drug
addiction and alconolism may
be handicaps does not mean
that these conditions must be
ignored in determining whether
an individual is qualified for
services or employment
Opportunities. On the
contrary, a recipient may hold
a drug addict or alcoholic to
the same standard of
performance and behavior to
which it holds others, even if
any unsatisfactory performance
or behavior is related to the
person's drug addiction or
alcoholism. In other words,
while an alcoholic or drug
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addict may not be denied
services or disqualified from
employment solely because of
N7S or ner condition, the
Denavioral manifestations of
tne condition may be taken
Into account in determining
whether he or she is
qualified,
With respect to the
employment of a drug addict or
alcoholic, if it can be shown
that the addiction or
alcoholism prevents Successful
performance of the job, the
person need not be provided
the employment opportunity in
question. For example, in
making employment decisions, a
recipient may judge addicts
and alcoholics on the same
Dasis it judges all other
applicants and employees.
Thus , a recipient may
consider - for all applicants
‘ncluding drug addicts and
alcoholics - past personnel
records, absenteeism,
disruptive, abusive, or
dangerous behavior...." 34
C.F.R. section 104, App. A,
Subpart A, section 4,
The Congress apparantly agreed with
HEW that drug and alcohol adDusers should
not be protected by the law to the extent
disability affects Job performance,
After the regulation was pub hed, the
-ongress amended the Jefinition f
nandicapped ndividua t @ x e r
and aicoho!l abusers ‘whose irrent use f
alcohol or drugs prevents such itndividua
rom performing the duties of the job in
question or whose employment, by reason of
~
such current alcohol or drug abuse, woul
tr
constitute a direct threat to property or
the safety of others.” 29 U.S.C. section
B. An employer may consider whether
a person's disease will endanger
others in determining whether
the person is qualified for the
position.
The Department also has taken the
position that characteristic or symptoms
1f diseases wnich may endanger others in
the workplace, may be taken into account
In determining whether a person 1s
qualified for the position. For example,
22
1n Appendix A to the Section 504
regulation in its discussion of
pre-employment inquiries, the Department
States:
"CE Jmployers may make
Inquiries about an applicant's
ability to perform a job
safely. Thus, an employer may
not ask if an applicant is an
epileptic but may ask whether
tne person can perform a
particular job without
endangering other employees,"
34 C.F.R. 104, App. A, Subpart
B, Section 18.
The Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission also demonstrated concern for
the health and Safety of other employees
In the regulations it promulgated under
section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act
which governs employment practices of the
federal government with regard to
Nandicapped individuals. The definition
of a “qualified nandicapped person" for
purposes of this Statutory provision
specifically states that in order t
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qualified a handicapped individual! must be
able to “perform the essential functions
)f the position in question without
endangering the health and safety of the
individua| or 4 ge 29 Cot ote
Because of the infectious nature of
tuberculosis, an individual with the
disease may not be able to perform his or
her job without endangering the health of
others in the workplace.
Tuberculosis is an “airborne”
disease, Spread by a germ called the
“tubercle bacillus." Persons catch the
disease by inhaling the bacilli suspended
In droplets of moisture in the air from an
infected person's cough or Sneeze.
Infected persons often do not develop the
disease because their immune System
Pee tee a
24
prevents the bacilli from multiplying. In
4 small proportion of people (about 5%),
the germs immediately take hold and
multiply. The infection can last for life
and symptoms of the disease show up later
In life in an additional 5% of infected
persons. Infection from years earlier may
Progress to disease during periods of
Stress caused by other illnesses or
PMysical or emotional hardship, but often
for no apparent reason. |
The greatest danger to persons in
contact with an infectious “carrier” is
the long-term threat of tuberculous
infection. | Perhaps because young
Children, i.e. those less than 5 years of
age, nave a less wel] developed immune
System, they are more susceptible to
developing tuberculosis than are older
children and adults, Tuberculosis,
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Welfare, Public Heal
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Disease Control.
However, given the same duration and
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ensity 2 f exposure, there 1s no
evidence that young children are at
greater risk of acquiring infection.
YJider children in a classroom situation
J)
and other teachers or employees would be
expected to have the same risk of becoming
infected in Ms. Arline’s school as the
elementary age children, if they had been
exposed for the same length of time in the
ame classroom. The schoo] district
Ww
Should be concerned that students and
co-workers are not subjected to
tuberculosis infection, even thougn tne
Infection may never blioom into the disease
Itself, or may occur after the person has
left the school district.
26
Petitioners in the Reply Argument
note that persons with other communicable
disease such as AIDS, would be Subject to
the precedent set in this case. That is
true, However, AIDS jis a very different
disease from tuberculosis. Although far
more serious in consequence (over 55% of
reported cases have died), AIDS is
relatively difficult to catch. It is a
blood-borne disease spread by intimate
sexual contact or injection into the blood
stream, and not by casual contact in the
Classroom situation. Therefore, although
AIDS is a “communicable” disease, the near
Impossibility of casual transmission makes
1t likely that a teacher with AIDS would
be considered “otherwise qualified” to
teach young children.
In any case, the determination of
whether the person is “otherwise
qualified” for the position should be
determined by the school district, based
upon the medical advise of public health
officials.
[V. COURTS AND LAWMAKERS RECOGNIZE
LIMITATIONS ON THE ADMISSION TO
PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF STUDENTS AND
EMPLOYEES WITH COMMUNICABLE
DISEASES.
A. State laws regulate the presence
of persons with communicable
diseases in the public schools.
In deciding whether to hire or retain
a teacher with a communicable disease,
school district officials must also take
into account state communicable disease
Statutes.
Virtually every state in the- country
regulates those with “communicable
diseases," The Statutes designate
certain diseases which may require
Tsolation of "“carriers", see e.g., N.Y.
Public Health Law
wor
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MN
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Instances
to public health
certain diseases,
Stat. Ann. §§ 36.621
Code Ann.
§ 6-119.
States have also
enacted directly
health
related to the
children, All states
require
Immunization of public
Students.
Mont. Rev. Codes
§ 40-5-408:
According
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Stat. § 433.267.
See Appendix.
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are enforced
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29
notwithstanding compulsory attendance laws
which are in effect in all the states.
The wording of the statutes varies
from state to state. Indiana, for
example, requires the board of health to
certify that a person with a communicable
disease is no longer infectious to others.
Other statutes, such as that in Virginia,
do not discuss “infectiousness” but merely
prohibit school officials from admitting
to school persons with diseases which have
been declared by the State to be
communicable.
Among the States with Statutes
regarding the health of school employees,
a continuing requirement for certification
of good health and freedom from disease 15
commonplace. Valente, Education Law
Public and Private, 234 (1985). Generally
this type of provision has been upheld by
a
30
378 (3rd Cir. 1975); Board of Trustees v.
:
|
|
! the courts. King-Smith v. Aaron, 455 F.2d
Porini, 263 Cal. App.2d 784 (1968).
| At least 25 of the states and the
| District of Columbia require a medical
certification that an employee is free
from tuberculosis or other communicable
disease. £E.g., Alaska Stat. § 18.15.145;
! Cal. Educ. Code §§ 44839, 49406; Me. Rev.
| Stat. Ann. tit. 20A, § 6551; Mass. Gen.
| Laws Ann. Ch. 71, § 55A; NLM. Stat. Ann. §
: 22-10-10; Pa. Stat. Ann. tit. 24,
3 g 12-1209. See Appendix.
Another five States do not
specifically require certification that
‘ the employee is free from communicable
diseases but do make good physical health
a condition of employment. Conn. Gen.
Stat. Ann. § 10-207; Mont. Rev. Code Ann.
§20-4-106(b); Neb. Rev. Stat. §79-1247.06:
Nev. Rev. Stat. § 391.312(f); Utah Code
Ann. § 53-2-25; . Approximately 20 states
require employees to undergo examinations
subsequent to initial employment either
periodically or as ordered by the school
board. Most States that require
subsequent physical examinations do so on
an “as needed“ rather than periodic basis.
However, certain States still require
periodic check ups for their high risk
employees, e.g., Ark. Stat. Ann. §
80-1210; Me. Rev. Stat. Ann. tit. 20A, §
6551: and some require periodic exams for
all their employees. E.@-.-. GEl.e BE0C.
Code § 493406; W.Va. Code § 16-3-4a. In
addition, nine states provide tnat no
teacher can be employed while in the
contagious stage of tuberculosis.
32
B. Courts consider infectivity of
the disease in Section 504 cases
involving students with
communicable diseases.
Several cases address the issue of
the applicability of Section 504 to
Students with communicable diseases. New
York State Assn. for Retarded Children,
Inc. v. Carey, 466 F, Supp. 479 (E.D.N.VY.
1978), involved the question of whether
School officials violated Section 504 by
isolating from the rest of the school
community retarded children who were
carriers of the hepatitis B virus. The
court noted that the school board should
not be required to “clearly demonstrate
existence of a significant health PIGR.”
Dut in this case there was no showing that
the carriers posed a health risk to
others, because the disease 1s
“transmitted primarily by blood-to-blood
contact, Dy means of transfusion of
»*
33
injected blood...and may also be
transmitted through body fluids other than
blood, such as saliva or semen." Id at
page 489, n.l.
Other court decisions have upnheida
school officials' decisions refusing to
admit students with hepatitis, based on
the transmissibility of the disease in tne
particular individual. In an unreported
decision out of the U.S. District Court of
Maryland, Ely v. Howard County Board of
Education, 3 E.H.L.R. 553:288 (D. Md.
1982), the court upheld the emergency
suspension and ultimate exclusion from a
special school for the handicapped of 4a
retarded student with severe learning
disabilities who had been identified as a
carrier of the hepatitis B virus.
In that case experts testified that
the child drooled constantly and that
34
because saliva carries the virus, there
existed a “high risk" of infection through
contact of other students or staff with
the child's saliva. Other evidence also
Showed that a member of the school staff
nad contracted hepatitis, apparently from
this child.
The court acknowledged the right of
the child to an education “in the least
restrictive environment" and the hardship
and injury he would suffer by being
excluded from school. But it contrasted
the child's hardship with the hardship
that would be suffered by the board of
education (representing other students and
School staff) if the child were placed in
school, and concluded that the two “are of
a different degree and kind."
"The former is undoubtedly a
temporary setback to the child in his
EE ee eT
35
tragic circumstances," the court wrote.
"The latter could be life threatening at
the worst, and life debilitating if not
life threatening.”
The court then continued with a
discussion of the question of “risk"--4
question which always is present in these
cases.
while it may well be tha
the hygenic precautions, 1
rigorously followed, wou |
reduce the risk to a minimal
one, the defendant's expert
believed that the risk was
nevertheless significant.
After hearing the
evidence the court concludes
that the risk is significant
to the health and safety of
the staff and the other
Students and believes the
probability that [the student
will infect a staff member or
a student] is so great that
the court cannot, In good
conscience, say that the risk
to the defendants would not
Outweigh the injury to tne
Olaintiff.
It should also be emphasized that,
36
unlike hepatitis B, AIDS and other
diseases which have been the subject of
recent cases involving Students,
tuberculosis is highly infectious in
so-called "casual" settings such as the
classroom. The lower court in the instant
case recognized that fact.
In each case, of course the most
difficult question will he that posed to
tne medical experts: whether the disease
In the affected individual is reasonably
Capable of being spread to others in the
context of the school environment and, if
SO, Now long the student or employee must
De kept out of the classroom. The burden
Should always be placed on the handicapped
individual to prove lack of
Iinfectiousness.
37
v. REASONABLE ACCOMMODATION, IF
AUTHORIZED AT ALL BY SECTION 504,
DOES NOT REQUIRE AN EMPLOYER TO PLACE
IN ANOTHER POSITION, A PERSON
UNQUALIFIED FOR HIS/HER CURRENT
POSITION,
The most disturbing part of the court
of appeals decision is its directive to
the district court to determine first, if
Ms Arline is “otherwise qualified" for her
present job and, if not, what otner joods
the school district could devise for whicn
she would be qualified. This elevates the
“reasonable accommodation” requirement
from a means of making minor adjustments
to qualify the person for the current
position, to a separate requirement that
the employer make affirmative efforts to
create a postion for the handicapped
person when he or she is not qualified for
the position for which he or she is betng
considered.
The statutory language of section 504
38
contains no requirement that employers
provide “reasonable accommodation" for the
handicapping condition of an employee or
applicant. However, the Department
regulation, promulgated under Section 504,
does contain such a requirement.
The Department of Health, Education
and Welfare (now the Department of
Education and Department of Health and
Human Services) took its “reasonable
accommodation” requirement from a similar
requirement in the Department of Labor
regulation under section 503 of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (applies to
federal contractors). HEW noted, in
Appendix A to its regulation, that-
“Although the wording of the reasonable
accommodation provisions of the two
regulations is not identical, the
obligation that the two regulations impose
~
“ Berk me S
as
39
is the same, and the federal government
policy in implementing the two sections
will be uniform." 34 C.F.R. 104, Appendix
A, Subpart B, Section 16.
As this Court has noted “an agency s
interpretation of the statute under which
it operates is entitled to some deference,
[however] ‘this deference is constrained
by our obligation to honor the clear
’
meaning of a statute as revealed by its
language, purpose and history.'" (citation
omitted) Southeastern Communit College
v. Davis, 442 U.S. 403, 411. A serious
question arises as to whether Section 504
authorizes inclusion of a “eeasonable
‘t
accomodation" provision in the regulation.
Als it as this Court has noted, the
statute does not authorize any regulation
inder Section 504, except as to employees
and contractors of the federal government.
em
40
Id at page 413, n. ll. Second, even if
authorization could be implied, the
authorization would not extend to
| encompass affirmative requirements such as
tnat mandated by the lower court.
In addition to the explicit
authorization in Section 503 for a
government regulation implementing the
provisions of the law, another important
distinction between Section 503 and
section 504 lays in question the validity
of the Department of Education's
“reasonable accommodation" requirement.
Unlike Section 504, which prohibits
discrimination, Section 503 requires
government contractors to “take
affirmative action to employ and advance
in employment qualified handicapped
Individuais....", 29 U.S.C 793(a). Thus,
while a requirement relating to
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4)
“seasonable accommodation” under Section
503, would be appropriate in order to
implement the Congressional intent
relating to “affirmative action", sucn 4a
requirement may not be appropriate under 4a
non-discrimination statute such as Section
504,
As this Court pointed out in
Southeastern Community College v. Davis,
supra at 411, “a comparison of [sections
501, governing Federal Government
employment, 503 and 504] demonstrates tnat
Congress understood accommodation of the
needs of handicapped individuals may
require affirmative action and knew how to
provide for it in those instances where it
wished to do so.”
If, indeed, the Department of Health,
Education and Welfare is held to have had
the authority to adopt a “reasonable
ee
42
accommodation" requirement, that
authorization could only extend as far as
a means of meeting Section 5004's
non-discrimination requirement. There is
no authority in the law which supports a
department regulation making an
affirmative obligation to “find a job"
somewhere in the employer's organization
for a handicapped person.
Like the court of appeals below, we
Sympathize with Ms. Arline and the
Situation she finds herself in through no
fault of her own. But, Section 504 is a
non-discrimination eet . not 4 law
guaranteeing employment to handicapped
persons, No where in the Act or in the
regulation is there a requirement that the
employer either create a job for the
handicapped person, which meets the
person's qualifications, or place the
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43
person in a different job than that for
which they have applied or Nave held in
the past.
Section 104.12(b) of the Department
sf Education regulation provides examples
of methods of accommodation whici. the
Department believed would be ‘reasonable.
Ail of the examples refer to restructuring
the qualification requirements of the job
for which the handicapped employee is
being considered, providing equipment to
assist the employee in qualifying for the
job or making the employer's facilities
accessible to the job applicant. No where
1s there any indication that the
Department intended to require the
employer to consider the person for a
different job, in the event accommodation
cannot be made in the first job.
"“(b) Reasonable
accommodation
may include: (1)
making
44
facilities used by employees
readily accessible to and
usable by handicapped persons,
and (2) job restructuring,
part-time or modified work
Schedules, acquisition or
modification of equipment or
devices, the provision of
readers or interpreters, and
other similar actions."
The appendix to the regulation
Provides additional guidance as to
the
department's definition of “reeasonable
accommodation."
"Job restructuring may entail
shifting nonessential duties to
other employees. In other
cases, reasonable accommodation
may include physical
modifications or relocation of
particular offices or jobs so
that they are in facilities or
parts of facilities that are
accessible to and usable by
Nandicapped persons." 34
C.F.R. 104, App. A, Subpart B,
a
Section 16.
Even the Department of
Labor
regulation 41 C.F.R. 60-741. implementing
Section 503, which as we have
Said
.
|
ee
eee ee =~
45
requires “affirmative action, does not
carry the definition of “reasonable
accommodation" as far as the lower court.
The regulation provides in part, as
follows:
""Qualified handicapped
individual’ means a
handicapped individual as
defined in section 60-741-2
who is capable of performing a
particular job with reasonable
accommodation to his or her
handicap.”
Significantly, the accommodation
requirement applies only to a “particular
job." The implementing regulations of
Section 501 of the Rehabilitation Act
includes a similar qualifier on the scope
of the “reasonable accommodation”
requirement; this restriction appears even
though section 501, like Section 503,
contains an affirmative action
requirement. Under Section 501, the
regulation regarding the definition of
i
46
“qualified handicapped person" provides as
follows:
“Qualified handicapped person
means with respect to
employment, a handicapped
person who, with or without
reasonable accommodation can
perform the essential
functions of the position in
question without endangering
the health and safety of the
Individual or others...." 29
C.F.R. section 16134,.702(f).
The key phrase to note in this definition
restricts application of the accommodation
requirement to the “position in question."
Thus, it is apparent that neither the
Department of Labor nor the Department of
Health, Education and Welfare intended by
their “reasonable accommodation”
requirements to mandate that nandicapped
employees who are not qualified for the
PpOSition be provided a different one. in
the instant case, the “particular job" is
the position which Ms. Arline held as an
elementary-schoo| teacher. Since her
7
jisability renders her unqualified for the
’
'
position of elementary-school teacher, tne
shoo district was zuthorized
eminate her employment.
a8
ALLOWING A PERSON WITH A CONTAGIOUS
DISEASE TO REMAIN IN THE CLASSROOM
SUBJECTS A SCHOOL DISTRICT TO
POTENTIAL TORT LIABILITY
In each case where a school distric
owingly allows a student or employee
a contagious disease to remain in tne
ty
room, there exists the potential o
in tort by another who contracts tne
a
48
defendant knew or should have known of the
danger and had a duty to warn others of
that danger. See, e@.g., Earle v. Kuklo,
98 A.2d 1097 (NH. App. Div., 1953);
Kleigel v. Aitken, 69 NW. 67 (Wisc.
1896); Gilbert v. Hoffman, 23 Nid. 632
(Iowa 1885).
Employers have even been held to be
negligent for failure to take prophylactic
measures to clean up the premises after
removing an infected person from the
premises. For example, a case in
Minnesota involved a school teacher who
alleged that she contracted tuberculosis
because the school district had not
properly cleaned and disinfected the
classroom after the teacher's predecessor
left her job due to tuberculosis.
Although dismissing the action because of
the school district's immunity, the court
held that the school district nad been
negligent. Bang v. Independent Schoo
District No. 27, 225 N.W. 499 (1929
CONCLUSION
>
’
>
Dv
Amicus submits that Ms
"handicapped" under Section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973. The schoo!
district, as an important part of its duty
to protect the students within its cnarge
requires that teachers must De pnysicaily
capable of joing the job. The
uncontroverted nedical| testimony here
indicated that Ms. Arline was capable of
transmitting her tuberculosis infection to
the students mn tne context Tf tne
>|assroom. Since she cannot meet a va
sfFiterion for her position, she 5 [h(Cnot
‘otherwise qua fied" for tne jad
The court of appeals remanded the
ase back to the district court for a
Oo
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a8,
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term?)
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allowing
position
4 position
Gwendolyn
Counsel of Record
Deputy Genera!
National
1680 Duke Street
Alexandria, VA
7903 )
August
NSBA
Genera!
‘
ner to
or, on
H. Gr
School
838-6722
92
ither risking the health of
Ms. Arline’s classroom by
remain in her present
tne otner nand, to create
for her elsewhere in the
ly submitted,
egory
Counsel
Boards Association
Steinhilber
Director
Thoma
NSBA
.
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Counsel/Associate Executive
Shannon
Director
utive
uy
APPENDIX
FALTH
He
~~
SCHOOL
EMENTS ON
REQUIR
STATUTORY
*
Teachers
Pupils
"WVXS
sTSomNowaaNL
WOUA AAA
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|
Pupils Teachers
State PE IM CD TB CD
H1 X X |
ID X | *3°4,5 X
IL = | mx
IN —
|
IA X |
KS =a | x, X
KY — ae
LA X X x |
|
ME x xX | X,
—
MD x, x 4 5
MA X X x Ky 5
M1 _— T
MN X TX, X
YT
MC X | Ka 5 X
MO — _ sem
MT X 7
NE oe pee
Nv X X ) | =
Pupils Teachers
State PE IM CD | TB =36cD
NH x xx |
NJ X XK . +
NM Xx i X
NY x X x |
NC X K + Ka X
ND X Xx |
OH X X x |
OK X X x |
OR X x | Ke
PA a a ce see “eee
RT X X T
SC X X | X 4
SD —— X vr X
TN X ror
TX x X wr 7
IT X X R
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Pupils , leachers
State PE IM CD | TB. cD
WA a aa X
WV KX xX | X,
_ 4
W1 xX | x,
WY . 7 |
7
Total: 29 49 35 | 21 15
> Wh
Discretionary with school district
General public health statute
Teacher certification prerequisite
Additional tests or exams required on a
periodic basis or when deemed necessary
Requires exclusion from school
TABLE OF CITATIONS
Pupils
Physical Exams
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Miss. Code Ann. § 37-7-301
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This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.