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When to Keep Your Child Home From School

It is often hard to know when to send children to school if they tell you they do not feel well.  In order to allow them to start feeling better and to protect other students and staff from becoming ill, here are some guidelines to follow. Please keep your child home and / or contact your child’s doctor for:

  • Temperature greater than 100 degrees (taken by mouth).  Student must be fever-free for 24 hours without medication before returning to school
  • One or more episodes of vomiting and/or diarrhea within the last 24 hours.  Student must remain at home for 24 hours symptom free.
  • Severe sore throat along with a fever, or after exposure to Strep throat infection
  • Honey-crusted sores around the nose or mouth
  • Rash on other body parts associated with fever or a rash in various stages including, boils, sores, and bumps which may be Chicken pox
  • Large amounts of discolored mucous (liquid) from the nose, with face pain or headache
  • Severe ear pain or fluid coming from the ear
  • Severe headache especially with fever
  • Severe, persistent abdominal pain
  • Lethargy, irritability, difficulty breathing –Call the child’s doctor!
  • Discomfort that keeps them from fully participating in school such as persistent cough
  • Red, runny, itchy eyes, with persistent drainage – “A cold you can see”
  • Student is too sleepy or sick from an illness that they cannot stay awake in school
     

* If your child has been diagnosed with a contagious infection, we require a note from the doctor stating it is safe for them to return to school.

*If the student has a fever, please do not administer Tylenol or other medication and send them to school.  The medication will wear off and you will be called to pick up your child.  It is better for them to remain home and rest until they are fever free without the use of medication. Please call your school nurse if you have any questions or concerns.