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When to Keep a Child Home
As parents, we know that it is always difficult to decide when a child should stay home from school. Here are a few guidelines to help you make that decision. We appreciate your help keeping our school a healthy environment for all students!
- A fever of 100 degrees or higher before school in the morning - do not have the student return to school until the student has been fever free for 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medications.
- A "heavy cold or hacking cough" even without a fever (cough that disturbs normal activity).
- Diagnosis from physician of Whooping Cough/Pertusis-student should stay home from school until he/she has received 5 full days wmih of antibiotic treatment.
- Vomiting - student should stay home until he/she can keep food down and is free of symptoms for 24 hours.
- Diarrhea-student should remain home until free of symptoms for 24 hours.
- Pink eye (conjunctivitis) - there can be many causes for red eyes, not all of which are communicable. Refer to your health care provider for an evaluation. The Academy of Pediatrics advises that children with purulent conjunctivitis (defined as pink or red conjunctiva with white or yellow discharge, often with matted eyelids after sleep and eye pain or redness of the eyelids or skin surrounding the eyes) be excluded until examined by a health care provider and approved for readmission. With bacterial conjunctivitis, health care providers usually recommend exclusion until 24 hours after stmting topical antibiotic therapy.
- Strep throat - student can return to school after they have been on antibiotics for at least 24 hours and are fever free.
- Chicken pox-exclusion from school for one week after the first eruption appears or all lesions are dry and crusted.
- Unexplained rash, blisters, or draining sores - student should see his/her health care provider for a diagnosis and recommendations.
Many illnesses are most communicable at the beginning. lf your child is kept home, fewer children will be exposed to the illness. Allowing your child lo stay home and get well at the beginning of an illness will actually help him/her to be more successful in school and lose less school time in the long run.
Remember - good hygiene and good hand washing techniques can help to prevent many illnesses! Please get a flu shot!!!
Call your health care provider with any concerns during an illness!
