Iowa law requires that all students entering kindergarten have a dental screening. The purpose of the dental screening requirement is to improve the oral health of Iowa’s children. Dental screenings help with early detection and treatment of dental disease; promote the importance of oral health for school readiness and learning; and contribute to statewide surveillance of oral health.

Kindergarteners must have had a dental screen sometime between the ages of 3 and 6 years and must be completed by spring of their kindergarten year. The screening must be completed by a dentist, dental hygienist, physician, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, or a nurse trained in doing oral screenings.

The health professional doing the dental screen must complete the dental certificate of dental screening. Please return the completed certificate to your child’s school office.

If families do not have dental insurance coverage or cannot pay for dental care, parents should contact the Iowa Department of Public Health at https://idph.iowa.gov/ohds/school-screenings.

Certificate of Dental Screening Form

Certificate of Dental Screening Exemption Form

Lead screening is required for children entering school. Testing should be done before the age of six and provided to the elementary school in which the child is enrolling. The requirement applies to children enrolled in public and private schools and those who are homeschooled.

Parents or guardians requesting open enrollment in or out of their resident school district must complete a State of Iowa application form. An application must be completed for each child and filed with both the resident and receiving school districts.

If you are seeking to apply for open enrollment out of Morning Sun Community School District, you may do so by completing the application form linked below. State law requires that you send the application to both school districts. The decision to accept or reject your applications resides with the receiving school district.

For additional information on open enrollment, please visit the Iowa Department of Education’s website, or contact the school office by phone at 319-868-7701 or email at kim.hagge@mscsd.org.

Iowa law requires that students in kindergarten and third grade have a vision screening performed and documentation given to the school. Over 80% of learning is visual, so adequate vision is very important for success in school.

• Kindergarten – the screening should be done no earlier than 1 year prior to enrollment and no later than 6 months after enrollment.
• Third graders – the screening should be done no earlier than 1 year prior to the start of school and no more than 6 months after the start of school.

Please have your child’s eye doctor OR primary health care provider complete the Vision Screening Certificate and return it to your child’s school.