The comprehensive school health and wellness program has eleven elements. Each element touches all aspects of the school experience and aims to have a significant impact on students' health knowledge, attitudes, and values.

FCPS departments and the Fairfax County Health Department (FCHD) provide leadership for each of these elements. The FCHD acts in a consultant role to support the services provided by the departments within the schools. 

The commitment to the whole child, whole school model includes immunization compliance. Immunizations are the safest and most cost-effective way of preventing disease, disability, and death. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) the COVID-19 pandemic caused a significant drop in well-child check-ups.  Many children missed recommended health screenings and immunizations which may result in an increase of vaccine-preventable illnesses.  

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/pediatric-hcp.html

For SY 2023-2024, the school health team, in collaboration with the FCHD, will continue to provide support and resources to families encouraging immunization maintenance schedules for their students. FCPS will partner with the FCHD to offer school-entry immunization clinics and/or Tuberculosis (TB) screenings to students at Student Registration Welcome Centers and/or at school-based sites, as required by the Code of Virginia and Regulation 2101. 

The health services program also supports the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Healthy People 2020 goals to guide development of school health related objectives. One of the goals of The Healthy People 2020 initiative is to increase immunization rates and to reduce preventable infectious diseases.  The health services program directly addresses promotion of healthy children through a proactive approach towards immunization. The program also provides direction and expertise to school-based and administrative office staff members throughout the school year as they pertain to registration and immunization compliance.

The program is compliant with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA), Section 504 of the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Family Education Rights Privacy Act (FERPA). FCPS collaborates with the FCHD in its provision of health services to minimize the impact of health conditions and to ensure students are adequately immunized so that students may achieve the maximum benefit from the educational day. The design of the program fosters joint planning and problem solving through promotion of an interdisciplinary school health team.

The Coordinator, School Health Services, and the school health team collaborate with over 104 full-time FCHD public health nurses (PHN) who provide and promote services to all FCPS students at over 200 schools and centers. 

The school health room provides a safe environment for students with chronic illnesses and daily health issues. FCHD school health aides and FCPS trained staff support the health and well-being of students in the health room during the school day. Under the current model, FCHD PHNs assess the health needs of new and established students at the beginning of each school year. The health needs include a review of all students’ immunization records to promote compliance with the Code of Virginia  22.1-271.2.

The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) Office of Epidemiology requires of The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) that all school divisions collect and report on the immunization status of kindergarten, 7th grade, and 12th grade students from each Virginia public school system. The data is reported yearly to the state. FCPS is compliant with: 

The Code of Virginia 22.1-271.2 which requires reporting of immunization status for

• Kindergarten, 7th, and 12th grade students
• The Virginia Board of Health Regulations for the Immunization of School Children

The Coordinator, School Health Services, in coordination with the FCHD provides the following instructional materials and resources to assist in meeting the health needs of FCPS students:

• Regulation 2101 Physical Examinations, Immunizations of Students, and  Tuberculosis Screening Requirements
• Regulation 2102 First Aid, Emergency Treatment, and Administration of Medication  for Students
• Regulation 2104 Health Services-School Health-Related Needs
• Management of Student Allergies in the School Setting (includes the management  for both the student with known and unknown allergies)
• Annual anaphylaxis training for designated FCPS staff
• Annual Diabetes Training for designated FCPS staff based on the American Diabetes Association 'Safe at School' program
• School Health Care Emergency Manual 
• Annual Asthma training for FCPS staff
• Annual Seizure training for FCPS staff 
• Care of Sick and Injured Children Manual 
• Annual Student Medication Management training for designated FCPS staff
• Annual School Health Emergencies training for designated FCPS staff 
• Virginia Immunization Information System (VIIS) training for designated FCPS staff

Health services will improve the immunization compliance of kindergarten, 7th and 12th grade students at or above the 90% as evidenced by data obtained through the Student Information Systems (SIS).

Maintaining or exceeding this compliance percentage will assist in protecting students from vaccine-preventable illnesses. Processes that will assist in reaching this goal include:

• Continued collaboration with Information Technology (IT)
• Increased administrative support for immunization data entry to adequately capture immunization compliance 
• Collaboration with the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) to permit selected and trained staff to access the Virginia Immunization Information System (VIIS). Access to the VIIS system will align FCPS immunization documentation with records from healthcare providers.
• Collaboration with the FCHD for additional immunization clinics
• Increased outreach, support, and communication targeting families of students who are not fully compliant

The following tables indicate compliance with entry level immunizations for Kindergarten, 7th, and 12th grade as required by the Code of Virginia 22.1-271.2

Fall 2022

Fall 2021