What is the role of schools?
The law directs schools to distribute the oral health education materials and the assessment-waiver document to parents who are registering their child in public school for the first time, in either kindergarten or first grade. Schools collect the assessment-waiver document by May 31 of the school year, and are responsible to aggregate the data contained on the form and report it, by district, to their County Office of Education by July 1 of each year.
The assessment-waiver form collects the following data with the express intention to identify not only the number of children entering school with untreated decay, but to identify specific access-to-dental care barriers. When data is unavailable, that will also be recorded (item #7).
- The total number of pupils who are subject to the requirement
- The total number who presented proof of an assessment
- The number who are assessed and found to have untreated decay
- The number who are assessed and found to have experienced dental disease (measured as either treated or untreated dental decay)
- The number who could not complete an assessment due to financial burden
- The number who could not complete an assessment due to lack of access to a licensed dental professional
- The number who could not complete an assessment because of lack of parental consent
- The number who did not return either the assessment form or the waiver request to the school
The school has the vital role of communicating the importance of oral health to parents and of being the guardians of the information that is collected and reported. All reasonable efforts to encourage parents to seek a dental checkup for their child and to return the paperwork, regardless of whether or not the evaluation was completed, are essential to fulfilling the intent of the law. The school personnel responsible for data collection and aggregation are not specified by law and will vary from district to district. Office administrators, office secretaries, health clerks or school nurses may be involved in this process for example.
Beyond the requirements of the law, schools have historically played an important role in ensuring children are healthy and ready to learn. As barriers to oral health care are identified for your school’s children, sharing the data with school board members, parent-teacher organizations, community organizations, (e.g. Rotary Club), your local dental society and local public health agencies will assist the development of partnerships and strategies to build capacity to meet these needs. The data can be a valuable asset in further oral health advocacy for your families – we encourage you to share it.