By Ally Lanasa, Staff Writer

(Sept. 24, 2020) The Worcester County Board of Education last week agreed to revise student policies regarding enrollment and attendance, supervision, behavior and discipline, wellness, athletics and extracurricular activities and safety security.

Dr. Annette Wallace presented the proposed revisions to the board during its meeting on Monday, Sept. 15.

The revisions were mainly editorial changes for grammar and capitalization.

Wallace said the only new policy that was approved concerned concussion safety for students, athletes and youth sport programs.

The original concussion safety policy was adopted in 2013 and was revised last week to comply with the Code of Maryland Regulations, which is the official compilation of all administrative regulations issued by state agencies.

According to the new policy, the school system’s concussion program must include training coaches in concussion risk and management with refresher training every two years. It also requires concussion education training for physical education teachers and written and signed acknowledgment of notification of student-athletes and their parents or legal guardians of the risk of concussion or head injury, removal from and return to play standards, the process of reporting of the injury and the academic accommodations for concussion victims.

The policy states that if a concession injury occurs during a school or school-sponsored event the following will occur: any student-athlete who is suspected of having a concussion will be immediately removed from practice or play, an emergency contact will be notified in person or by phone and in writing immediately, appropriate academic accommodations and restrictions will be made to the student-athlete during the recovery phase, the athletic director and school nurse will be notified before the start of the following school day of a student-athlete who has a concussion injury and a student-athlete may return to play after the student receives written clearance from a professional medical assessment.

Youth sports programs that want to use Worcester County Public Schools’ athletic facilities must distribute concussion information in writing to parents and legal guardians and receive verifiable acknowledgement of the risk of concussion or head injury.

In addition, youth sports programs must annually affirm to the county school system that they are compliant with concussion information procedures.

For more information, visit worcesterk12.org.