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The Superintendent or designee shall develop and implement a program to manage concussions and head injuries suffered by students. The program shall:

1. Fully implement the Youth Sports Concussion Safety Act (YSCSA), that provides, without limitation, each of the following:
   1. The Board must appoint or approve members of a Concussion Oversight Team for the District.
   2. The Concussion Oversight Team shall establish each of the following based on peer-reviewed scientific evidence consistent with guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
      1. A return-to-play protocol governing a student’s return to interscholastic athletics practice or competition following a force of impact believed to have caused a concussion. The Superintendent or designee shall supervise an athletic trainer or other person responsible for compliance with the return-to-play protocol.
      2. A return-to-learn protocol governing a student’s return to the classroom following a force of impact believed to have caused a concussion. The Superintendent or designee shall supervise the person responsible for compliance with the return-to-learn protocol.
   3. Each student and the student’s parent/guardian shall be required to sign a concussion information form each school year before participating in an interscholastic athletic activity.
   4. A student shall be removed from an interscholastic athletic practice or competition immediately if any of the following individuals believes that the student sustained a concussion during the practice or competition: a coach, a physician, a game official, an athletic trainer, the student’s parent/guardian, the student, or any other person deemed appropriate under the return-to-play protocol.
   5. A student who was removed from interscholastic athletic practice or competition shall be allowed to return only after all statutory prerequisites are completed, including without limitation, the return-to-play and return-to-learn protocols developed by the Concussion Oversight Team. An interscholastic athletic team coach or assistant coach may not authorize a student’s return-to-play or return-to-learn.
   6. The following individuals must complete concussion training as specified in the YSCSA: all coaches or assistant coaches (whether volunteer or a district employee) of interscholastic athletic activities; nurses who serve on the Concussion Oversight Team; athletic trainers; game officials of interscholastic athletic activities; and physicians who serve on the Concussion Oversight Team.
   7. The Board shall approve school-specific emergency action plans as specified in the Youth Sports Concussion Safety Act for interscholastic athletic activities to address the serious injuries and acute medical conditions in which a student’s condition may deteriorate rapidly.
2. Inform student athletes and their parents/guardians about this policy in the Agreement to Participate or other written instrument that a student athlete and the athlete’s parent/guardian must sign before the student is allowed to participate in a practice or interscholastic competition.
3. Include a requirement for staff members to distribute the Ill. Dept. of Public Health concussion brochure to any student or the parent/guardian of a student who may have sustained a concussion, regardless of whether or not the concussion occurred while the student was participating in an interscholastic athletic activity, if available.

Adopted: October 28, 2013
Revised: May 22, 2017; April 25, 2022; September 18, 2023