Want to graduate this May, seniors? Iowa high school students must fulfill certification for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) in compliance with the Healthy Kids Act and the No Child Left Behind protocol.

Cedar Rapids Community Schools requires students to attend a hands-on teaching in a class of roughly 30 students before taking an online test consisting of 17 questions, in which a student can only be graced one incorrect answer in order to pass and ultimately fulfill their requirement.

CRCSD includes in the student handbook a version of the requirement, noting that the purpose [of requiring CPR] “is to assist a classmate or staff member in distress.”

Kennedy keeps records of its certified students through a database in PowerSchool, using simple ‘Yes’, ‘No’, and ‘Exempt’ options when a particular student is run through a query.

“It’s not real difficult, we can just go through and look to see if they’ve partaken in it,” administrator Robert Johnson said.

The district has now added an online component for the complete certification, though Johnson said students who have been certified prior to this year do not have to take the new online portion, easing the process of getting every student certified. He encouraged students to “get this taken care of and not wait until the last minute.”

Some students, however, are not happy with the requirement.

“They shouldn’t have to tell people they won’t graduate if they don’t learn CPR,” Anna Long, jr., said.

Though she’s not excited about the requirement – which she completed freshman year — she offered some words of advice.

“I would suggest that students really take it to heart, because it’s important information and you don’t want to forget what to do when it really matters, when it’s on a real person, and not just a dummy,” Long said.