§ 23.85. Responsibilities of schools and school administrators.

 (a)  The administrator in charge of a school shall appoint a knowledgeable person to perform the following:

   (1)  Inform the parent, guardian or emancipated child at registration or prior to registration, if possible, of the requirements of this subchapter.

   (2)  Ascertain the immunization status of a child prior to admission to school or continued attendance at school.

     (i)   The parent, guardian or emancipated child shall be asked for a completed certificate of immunization.

     (ii)   In the absence of a certificate of immunization, the parent, guardian or emancipated child shall be asked for a record or history of immunization which indicates the month, day and year that immunizations were given. This information shall be recorded on the certificate of immunization and signed by the school official or the official’s designee, or the details of the record shall be stored in a computer database.

 (b)  If the knowledgeable person designated by the school administrator is unable to ascertain whether a child has received the immunizations required by §  23.83 (relating to immunization requirements) or by subsection (e) or is exempt under §  23.84 (relating to exemption for immunization), the school administrator may admit the child to school or allow the child’s continued attendance at school only according to the requirements of subsections (d) and (e).

 (c)  The parent or guardian of a child or the emancipated child who has not received the immunizations required by §  23.83 shall be informed of the specific immunizations required and advised to go to the child’s usual source of care or nearest public clinic to obtain the required immunizations.

 (d)  A child not previously admitted to or not allowed to continue attendance at school because the child has not had the required immunizations shall be admitted to or permitted to continue attendance at school only upon presentation to the school administrator or school administrator’s designee of a completed certificate of immunization or immunization record, upon submission of information sufficient for an exemption under §  23.84, or upon compliance with subsection (e).

 (e)  If a child has not received all the antigens described in §  23.83, the child may be provisionally admitted to school only if evidence of the administration of at least one dose of each antigen described in §  23.83 is given to the school administrator or the administrator’s designee and the parent or guardian’s plan for completion of the required immunizations is made part of the child’s health record. The plan for completion of the required immunizations shall be reviewed every 60 days by the school administrator or the administrator’s designee. Subsequent immunizations shall be entered on the certificate of immunization or entered in the school’s computer database. Immunization requirements described in §  23.83 shall be completed within 8 months of the date of provisional admission to school. If the requirements are not met, the school administrator may not admit the child to school or permit continued attendance.

 (f)  A school shall maintain on file a certificate of immunization for a child enrolled. An alternative to maintaining a certificate on file is to transfer the immunization information from the certificate to a computer database. The certificate of immunization or a facsimile thereof generated by computer shall be returned to the parent, guardian or emancipated child or the school shall transfer the certificate of immunization (or facsimile) with the child’s record to the new school when a child withdraws, transfers, is promoted, graduates or otherwise leaves the school.

   The provisions of this §  23.85 amended through September 17, 1982, effective August 1, 1983, 12 Pa.B. 3288; amended August 22, 1997, effective August 23, 1997, 27 Pa.B. 4317. Immediately preceding text appears at serial pages (129145) to (129146).

   This section cited in 28 Pa. Code §  27.77 (relating to immunization requirements for children in child care group settings).