Come July 1, student-athletes in Connecticut will be subject to an updated set of concussion guidelines approved by the state board of education on Wednesday.
Last spring, the state legislature approved a law that aimed to build upon the state’s original youth-concussion law, passed back in 2010. The original law required annual concussion training for coaches, the removal from play of any student-athlete suspected of a concussion, and written clearance from a health-care professional before any student-athlete with a concussion can return to play. It did not, however, require any sort of parental education initiative, nor did it require the signature of a parent or guardian on a concussion information form before student-athletes are allowed to participate in school sports.
The new law, which Gov. Dannel Malloy signed last May, required each local and regional board of education to prevent a student-athlete from participating in any intramural or interscholastic athletic activity unless the student-athlete and a parent or guardian underwent some form of concussion training. A parent or guardian also must sign an informed consent form before his or her student-athlete is allowed to participate in sports.
The law required the state board of education to develop a concussion education plan by Jan. 1, 2015, and either develop or approve an informed consent form by July 1, 2015. And thus, on Wednesday, the state board unanimously approved the new set of guidelines, which require student-athletes to either read written materials, watch online training or videos, or attend in-person training sessions on concussions before participating in interscholastic athletes, as the law required.
Allan Taylor, chairman of the state board,
told the .