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New rules good for our children

Beginning with this past school year, West Virginia public schools required new students entering pre-K or kindergarten, and students entering 2nd and 7th grades to show proof they have had dental examinations and HealthCheck/comprehensive health examinations before entering school. This is in addition to the requirement for scheduled vaccinations — including the Tdap and meningitis shots, of course.

The requirements apply to students entering 12th grade for the upcoming school year.

It is a change to which many parents have not yet become accustomed, but if it has slipped your mind, summer is the perfect time to schedule an appointment. The start of the next school year is coming faster than one might think.

These new requirements are meant not only to help parents keep their own children healthier and more ready to learn; they affect the health of the schools and communities as a whole. Parents with infants or elderly relatives at home will have less worry that an unvaccinated child will carry a deadly disease into the school, which might then be carried home by another child.

Those who are uncertain of the new requirements and their timing should check with the school systems, and dental and other health care providers.

School starts up again in the Northern Panhandle in a little more than seven weeks. There will be plenty on the to-do list as that day approaches.

Get this one taken care of, now.

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