If you have any questions regarding the Health Department at Riceville Community School District, please contact the District Nurse, Michelle Berentsen, at michelle.berentsen@riceville.k12.ia.us

Wellness Policy

• 2025 - 2026 School Wellness Policy Progress Report

Wellness Committee Meetings

• 2025_- 2026 Wellness Committee Meeting Minutes

Medications: 

Riceville Community School is committed to the inclusion of all students in the education program and recognizes that some students may need prescription and non-prescription medication to participate in their educational program. (Board policy 507.2)

Per Iowa state law, medications may be administered with written authorization from the student’s parents or guardian and with a prescriber’s written order for prescription medication and/or a current pharmacy-labeled container as dispensed by a pharmacist. *** Please see Riceville Community School District Medication Administration Policy for full policy information. 

Medications will be held in a locked cabinet and distributed by the school nurse or medication-certified staff.

RCSD Med Administration Protocol

When the prescription medication is finished, the parents will be called or sent a text to obtain a refill from their pharmacy. The empty bottle will be discarded at the school after all labels are removed.

Over-The-Counter Medications (OTC):
The school will have certain over-the-counter medications available for students during school hours (see link below). These medications will be distributed by the school nurse or medication-certified staff ONLY when a parent/guardian has indicated permission in the Health Custom Fields section of yearly registration on JMC. If permission is not given, no OTC medications will be administered.

Riceville Community School Over-the-Counter Medications

Illness:

RCS Student Health and Illness Protocol

Childhood Illness and Exclusion Criteria

Screenings:

Students will have 3 annual screenings: Hearing, Dental, and Vision.

Hearing screenings are performed by an audiometrist from Keystone AEA annually to kindergarten, 2nd, and 7th graders in the fall by the AEA as well as for new students who have moved into the state at the elementary level (kindergarten-5th grade). Students not passing a routine hearing screening with the audiometrist will be seen for further screening/testing by an audiologist from Keystone AEA. Follow-up testing may occur periodically if previous hearing test results were not within normal limits. Parents/Guardians not wishing their child's hearing to be screened/tested should notify the school nurse/health office at the beginning of the year. Keystone AEA will directly mail results to the parent/guardian if further follow-up is needed.

Dental screens are mandated for kindergarten and freshmen. These dental screens need to be done prior to the start of school. Freshmen who do not complete a dental screening will be seen by a Dental Hygienist from the VNA who comes to RCSD to perform them.

Vision testing is done annually on the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, and any students by request. Notices will be sent home or emailed to parents of students who do not pass.

Any parent or teacher can request to have their child screened at any time.

Human Growth and Development:

The school district provides students with instruction in human growth and development. Parents may review the human growth and development curriculum prior to its use and have their child excused from human growth and development instruction. Parents should contact Amanda Conway (641-985-2288) if they wish to review the curriculum or to excuse their child from human growth and development instruction.​

Health Education ​(School Board Policy – 603.8A)

Students in grade levels one through twelve shall receive, as part of their health education, instruction about personal health, food and nutrition, environmental health, safety and survival skills, consumer health, family life, substance use and non-use, including the effects of alcohol, tobacco, drugs, and poisons on the human body, emotional and social health, health resources, prevention and control of disease, including characteristics of communicable disease. Beginning no later than grade seven, characteristics of communicable disease shall include information about sexually transmitted diseases. Parents who object to health education instruction in human growth and development may file a written request that the pupil be excused from the instruction. The written request shall include a proposed alternative activity or study acceptable to the superintendent. The superintendent shall have the final authority to determine the alternate activity or study.

2026 Triennial assessment