Policy 414 - Students and Employees with Communicable Diseases

Public concern that students and staff of the School District be able to attend schools of the District without becoming infected with serious communicable or infectious diseases including, but not limited to, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
(AIDS), Hepatitis B, and Tuberculosis, requires that the School Board adopt measures effectively responding to health concerns while respecting the rights of all students, employees, and contractors, including those who are so infected. The purpose of this policy is to adopt such measures.

A. STUDENTS
The policy of the School Board is that students with communicable diseases not be excluded from attending school in their usual daily attendance setting so long as their health permits and their attendance does not create a significant risk of the transmission of illness to students or employees of the School District. A regulation for minimizing interruptions to learning resulting from communicable diseases will be established by the School District in its IEP and Section 504 team process, if applicable, and in consultation with community health and private health care providers. Procedures for the inclusion of students with communicable diseases will include any applicable educational team planning processes, including the
review of the educational implications for the student and others with whom the student comes into contract.

B. EMPLOYEES
The policy of the School Board is that employees with communicable diseases not be excluded from attending to their customary employment so long as they are physically, mentally and emotionally able to safely perform tasks assigned to them and so long as their employment does not create a significant risk of the transmission of illness to students, employees, or others in the school District. If a reasonable accommodation will eliminate the
significant risk of transmission, such accommodation will be undertaken unless it poses an undue hardship to the School District.

• Minn. Stat. § 121A.23 (Health-Related Programs)
• Minn. Stat. § 144.441-442 (Tuberculosis)
• Minn. Stat. Ch. 363A (Minnesota Human Rights Act)
• 20 U.S.C. § 1400 et seq. (Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004)
• 29 U.S.C. § 794 et seq. (Rehabilitation Act of 1973, § 504)
• 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq. (Americans with Disabilities Act)
• Kohl by Kohl v. Woodhaven Learning Center, 865 F.2d 930 (8th Cir.), cert. denied, 493 U.S. 892, 110 S.Ct. 239 (1989)
• School Board of Nassau County, Fla. v. Arline, 480 U.S. 273, 107 S.Ct. 1123 (1987)
• 16 EHLR 712, OCR Staff Memo, April 5, 1990

• Adopted: November 20, 2003
• Amended: June 12, 2004
• Amended: November 13, 2006
• Amended: January 9, 2012
• Amended: July 11, 2016
• Last Reviewed: December 9, 2024

• Policy 414-R - Students and Employees with Communicable Diseases Regulations