• School attendance is very important, but your children need to feel healthy in order to learn.  When they come to school sick, not only do they have difficulty concentrating, but they expose other children and staff to their illnesses.  The control of communicable ("catching") disease during the school year is a difficult problem and an important responsibility for parents.  The first responsibility must fall upon the home, as parents know the normal appearance of their children and should be the first to detect signs of illness.  The following rules will help control communicable diseases in our school community:
     

     1.       Do not send your child if he/she shows signs of illness.

     

     2.       Do not send a sick child to school for the nurse to decide whether he/she should be in school.  The Nurse's Office is NOT a primary care clinic.  If in doubt, call the pediatrian/family doctor.

     

     3.       If your child is sick, keep well children away from him/her.

     

     4.       Some of the signs and symptoms of acute illness are:

               Restlessness at night                           Diarrhea                                     

               Fever (oral temp 100.0 or more)         Red, watering eyes

               Runny nose/sore throat                       Flushed face or paleness

               Sneezing/coughing                             Headache

               Unexplained rash**                             Swelling neck or face

               Nausea or vomiting                            Earache

               Red eyes with drainage, crusting or tearing

     

    5.       If your child shows any of the above signs, he/she should be isolated from well children.  If there is any doubt, call the pediatrician or family physician.

     

    6.      KEEP HIM/HER HOME UNTIL TEMPERATURE HAS BEEN NORMAL ONE WHOLE DAY (without the use of products like Tylenol or Advil).  Normal temperature is about 98.6 F.  Take temperature during the mid?afternoon each day if you suspect it is above normal.  Continue this process until temperature is normal one whole day, then the child can return to school if no other symptoms of illness are present.

    **Any child with an undiagnosed rash should remain out of school until all symptoms are gone or a physician verifies the child is not contagious (please send a doctor's note) and is well enough to return to school.

     If every parent follows these procedures, it will save much suffering and the spread of contagious diseases, some of which may be life?threatening to our medically fragile students!

     Don't hesitate to call your physician if you have any questions or concerns regarding your child.