Grand Jury

MARIN COUNTY CIVIL GRAND JURY 2017-2018 • OCTOBER 2018 MARIN COUNTY CIVIL GRAND JURY FINAL REPORT SUMMARIES 4 e 2015-16 Marin County Civil Grand Jury issued a report entitled, "Head Injuries and Concussions: Are Our High Schools Keeping our Children Safe?" e report de- tailed the potential for head injury associated with playing "high risk" sports in high school and made recommendations aimed at improving the school districts' treatment of head injuries. Much has happened relative to our understanding of head injuries in sports over the two years since then. e 2017-18 Civil Grand Jury surveyed Marin's High School Districts on key concerns and this report is an update on the school districts' implementation of those recommendations. e ques- tion of whether or not even these recommendations are sufficient to protect our young people remains open. e 2015-16 recommendations included: ■ Annual mandatory neuro- cognitive testing, and retesting post-injury, should be required. ■ A certified athletic trainer should administer and interpret all tests. ■ A certified athletic trainer should be present at all high- risk sporting events. ■ Written protocols for reporting head injuries should be adopted. ■ Student athletes should receive mandatory concussion education. e school districts' responses indicate that awareness of the issue of head injuries has in- creased but implementation of remedies still varies. FOLLOW-UP REPORT ON HEAD INJURIES AND CONCUSSIONS: Are Our High Schools Keeping Our Children Safe? RECOMMENDATIONS R1. e Marin County Office of Education should provide state-of- the-art head injury protocols and make them available for use at all schools. R2. School districts should provide head injury data to the Marin County Office of Education. R3. e Marin County Office of Education should maintain a database of head injuries provided by the school districts. R4. Novato School District should require mandatory annual neurocognitive testing of all high school athletes in high-risk sports and mandatory post-injury testing. R5. Tamalpais Union School District should require mandatory annual neurocognitive testing of all high school athletes and mandatory post-injury testing. R6. Novato School District should add the cost of neuro- cognitive testing to their annual budget. R7. Tamalpais Union School District should add the cost of neurocognitive testing to their annual budget. R8. A certified athletic trainer should be present at all high-risk sporting events. R9. Novato School District should provide mandatory concussion education for student athletes and parents. R10. Tamalpais Union School District should provide mandatory concussion education for student athletes and parents. Video Podcast: https://goo.gl/tpZz7h Photo Credit: iStockPhoto

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