When Should I Keep My Child Home?
When should I keep my child home from school because of illness?
In order for your child to be ready to learn and to control communicable disease in school, it is very important for you to keep your child at home when he or she displays any of the following:
- A temperature of 101 degrees or more. Your child should remain at home at rest until fever free for 24 hours
(without the aid of Acetaminophen or Ibuprofen) before returning to school.
- A strep infection diagnosed by a doctor. Your child should be on antibiotics for 24 hours before returning to school.
- Vomiting during the night or in the morning.
- Persistent diarrhea during the night and into the morning.
- A moist productive cough, continuous coughing and/or chest congestion.
- Red swollen eyes that itch and are draining pus. (Woke up with eyes glued shut)
- Suspected scabies, impetigo, new skin rashes or eruptions, any skin rashes in the weeping stage; head lice
or any infectious childhood condition.
At times, it may be difficult to tell if your child is too ill to go to school. Like adults, children have different tolerances for discomfort. Even with the common cold, some children are able to function with no trouble, while others are not able to concentrate on school work. Please use your knowledge of your child and your best judgment to decide on these days.
COMMUNICABLE (CONTAGIOUS) DISEASES:
By law, children are excluded from school for the following common diseases:
Conjunctivitis, Acute ("pink eye"): Excluded until prescribed treatment has been given for 24 hours.
Head Lice: Excluded until treated with a medical shampoo or cream rinse and hair is free of lice.
Impetigo: Excluded until judged noninfectious by the child’s physician or school nurse.
Ringworm: Excluded until judged noninfectious by the child’s physician or school nurse.
Chickenpox: Excluded until at least 6 days after the last outbreak of "pox".
Scabies: Excluded until judged noninfectious by the child’s physician or school nurse.
Please notify the nurse if your child contracts these, or any other disease that a doctor says is contagious/requires school exclusion. It is imperative that the school nurse be notified in order to reduce the spread of infection to other students and school employees.