Dear Families,
With cold and flu season upon us we would like to send out a reminder about a few things:
Too Sick For School?Sometimes it is a tough call as to when your child should stay home, so here are a few guidelines to help you make the decision whether or not you should keep your child home. We realize that many of you work outside the home and it is sometimes difficult to keep your child home. However keeping children at home when they are sick makes a tremendous difference in preventing the spread of illnesses throughout the classroom.
Fever
Fevers are generally signs of infection. Your child’s temperature should be less than 100 degrees for 24 hours, without the use of fever reducing medications such as Tylenol or Motrin, before they can return to school. While your child is at home, encourage them to drink plenty of fluids and get rest, which will allow them to recover from their illness.
Stomach Ache, Vomiting, Diarrhea
A child with vomiting and or diarrhea should be kept at home until their symptoms have resolved for approximately 12 hours, and the child has demonstrated they can keep food and liquids down.
Cold Symptoms, Cough, Sore Throat
Your child may attend school if their symptoms are not associated with a fever. They should also be free from significant discomfort from their cold symptoms so they are able to participate in their schoolwork. If your child has symptoms of a persistent cough or thick, yellow/ green nasal discharge that lasts longer than a week or he/ she complains of an earache, you should consult your Doctor for possible treatment.If your child has been diagnosed with Strep throat, they may return to school after being on antibiotics for 24 hours to assure that their infection will not be contagious to others.
Red Eye
Red, irritated, itchy eyes with drainage could be caused by a bacterial infection, allergies, or a virus. If the white part of the eye appears red and produces a yellow or green crusty discharge with matted lashes, your child may have conjunctivitis. Conjunctivitis or “pink eye”, as it is commonly referred, is a contagious infection, which needs to be treated by a Doctor. Your child may return to school after 24 hours of prescribed treatment.
Absences
Please call the sick line when your child is going to be absent. Send in any physician notes when your child is seen by his/her MD. If your child is out for 5 consecutive days, they must return with a physician note clearing them to return to school.
Assistive Devices
In the school setting assistive devices are casts, crutches, orthopedic related boot and braces, wheelchairs, etc. Any student needing to utilize an assistive devise must have supporting physician documentation for such.
Dental
Any student returning to school after a dentist or orthodontic appointment where a local anesthesia, numbing medication is used must have physician documentation to return to school.
Medication Administration
Any student requiring medication to be administered at school by the school nurse must have written physician documentation and signed parent consent. Please note that students are not permitted to transport medication to/from school per the Whitman-Hanson Regional School District Policy, therefore an adult must deliver the medication to the school nurse. Please deliver the medication to the school nurse in a pharmacy or manufacturer labeled container, bottle or box. Please ask your pharmacy to provide a separate container/bottle/inhaler/epi-pen/diastat for school and home. No more than a thirty day supply of the medication should be delivered to the school.
If you are called to pick up your child because of illness, he/she must be picked up swiftly. Please be sure that Infinite Campus has the most recent up-to-date emergency contact information, so that we have someone who can act on your behalf, if we are unable to reach you. This person should live locally.
Thank you in advance for helping us ALL stay healthy!
From the School Nurses:
Jessica, Kathy and Lisa