§ 6-18-703 - School-based health clinics. - Arkansas Statutes

6-18-703. School-based health clinics.

(a) (1) (A) No school-based health clinic may be established in a public school until requested by resolution by the school board of directors, and no child shall receive school-based health clinic services without parental consent. Parental consent to contraceptive services and condom distribution shall be specific, in writing, and maintained in the student's health records.

(B) (i) All school-based clinics shall maintain accurate records of the distributing and prescribing of contraceptives and condoms.

(ii) The number of pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases among students in the schools with school-based clinics shall be transmitted annually to the school board of directors.

(iii) Records maintained under this section are part of the confidential medical record of the student. Numerical or statistical data required to be maintained under this subsection may not be released in a manner that reveals the identity of or any other information contained in the file of the student.

(2) If the board of directors establishes a school-based health clinic, the board of directors shall retain absolute control over the operations and programs offered by the clinic.

(3) Schools that offer sex education in school-based health clinics shall include instruction in sexual abstinence, and no funds shall be utilized for abortion referral.

(b) When any local school board of directors elects to maintain a school-based health clinic in the school, any Department of Health employee working in the clinic shall be subject to the supervision and control of the school board of directors.

(c) (1) No state funds shall be used for the purchase or dispensing of contraceptives or abortifacients in public schools.

(2) Local school boards of directors retain the sole authority over whether and to what extent family planning education is provided in clinics, including any purchase or distribution of contraceptives.

(3) Notice of family planning clinic intentions by a school district shall be given thirty (30) days in advance of a public meeting of the school board of directors.

(d) It is hereby recognized that sexual activity by students places our youths at increased risk of pregnancy and the contraction of acquired immune deficiency syndrome and other sexually transmitted diseases, and it is the policy of the State of Arkansas to discourage such sexual activity. The school board of directors of every school district that associates itself with distributing, recommending, or prescribing condoms or contraceptives shall adopt a resolution acknowledging that there are risks associated with teen sexual activities. It is further required that every public school and public health department sex education and acquired immune deficiency syndrome prevention program shall emphasize premarital abstinence as the only sure means of avoiding pregnancy and the sexual contraction of acquired immune deficiency syndrome and other sexually transmitted diseases.