Hard to believe, but the first day of school is only about a month away.
With Aug. 14 approaching, Berkeley County School District is committed to making sure its families are prepared for a new school year.
As part of that process, BCSD would like to remind its parents of the following information regarding student immunizations and medications.
Immunizations
Each year the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) provides the South Carolina Immunization Requirements for Childcare and School.
Immunization requirements are regularly updated by DHEC. The following changes have been made for the 2023-2024 school year for students in fourth grade, ninth grade, 11th grade and 12th grade – this information is also available on DHEC’s Childcare & School Vaccine Requirements website.
• Ninth grade: one dose of Tdap vaccine on or after the 10th birthday.
• 10th grade: two doses of varicella. A child with a positive history of the disease is considered immune and is exempt from this requirement.
• 12th grade: three doses of oral and/or inactivated polio vaccine with at least one dose received on or after the fourth birthday.
• Fourth grade: two doses of hepatitis A vaccine with both doses received on or after the first birthday and separated by at least 6 months.
View full state immunization requirements for childcare 2024-2025 here.
Medications
BCSD would also like to remind its families of the protocol for giving prescription and non-prescription medicines at school:
• In order for a child to be given non-prescription medicines at school, the child’s parent/guardian must sign a permission form. Schools may have special rules for non-prescription medicines and may require parents or guardian to sign additional forms.
• In order for a child to be given a prescription medicine at school, the child’s health care practitioner and the child’s parent or guardian should sign a separate permission form. Because the instructions for some medications require more space than is provided on the form, some health care practitioners may prefer to use a practice specific form.
In both cases, schools may have special rules for prescription medicines and may require parents or guardians to sign additional forms. A responsible adult should deliver the medicine and the permission form to the school. The medicine must be in the original container with the label on it.
New Student Registration
For parents of new students in the district, families were required to fill out a health history questionnaire for nursing services; registration is entirely web-based, including document uploads. For those unable to register online, contact your child’s school to schedule a date and time to complete the registration in-person.
Head to the New Student Registration to proceed with registration. For more information, please visit BCSD’s Nursing Services page.