Your child’s health and success at school are our greatest concerns. Sometimes it can be difficult to decide whether to send your child to school when they have early symptoms of illness or complain that they do not feel well in the morning. Below are some guidelines on when it would be best to keep your child home from school. These guidelines discuss some of the more common illnesses of childhood and are not all inclusive. 

• Fever over 100 (orally) within the past 24 hours without fever reducing medicine
• Constant coughing
• Large amounts of nasal drainage (Runny nose) especially if student is not able to do good health hygiene (hand washing and nose blowing) independently
• Ear ache, especially with fever
• Head ache with fever or severe enough to prevent learning
• Sore throat if recently exposed to strep, lasting more that 48 hours or with fever
• Vomiting or Diarrhea within the past 24 hours
• Pink eye or a red eye with crusting or tearing
• Skin sores around the mouth and nose with crusting
• Skin rashes, boils or blisters

Many of these conditions will require a doctor’s visit.  Some contagious conditions will require a doctor’s note to return to school.  If you have questions, please contact the School Nurse.

Good Health Hygiene 

Please take the time to remind and show your children how to perform Good Health Hygiene.  This helps to keep your child well and to prevent your child from sharing his/her illness with others.  Below are some suggestions to reinforce at home.
Remind children:
• discard used tissues promptly
• do not share personal items
• keep their hands away from their face
• wash their hands thoroughly and often with soap and water
• suggest that they sing the Happy Birthday song twice while washing their hands

Absences from School 

All school absences require a written note to be on file from a parent or guardian.  Until a written note is received regarding an absence, it will be recorded as an unverified or illegal absence. Please refer to this document for the Board of Education policy on absences. Refer to the attendance policy to obtain information about what types of absences are considered legal absence from school. 

If your child is absent 5 or more consecutive days for illness, it is recommended that they be evaluated by their Primary MD:
• To determine if the child requires  treatment for recovery
• To determine if the child is well enough to return to school and full activity.
• To determine if they are non-contagious and cleared to return to school.
• Please request a written note from your child’s doctor addressing the above concerns.
 

For your convenience, you may print and use this note when your child is absent from school for less than 5 days.