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School Nurse » Sick Day Guidelines

Sick Day Guidelines

 

Sick Day Guidelines - Making the Right Call


If your child has illness symptoms during the previous night, consider making arrangements for your child to remain at home. Rest and early attention will often shorten the illness. It will also help cut down on the spread of germs at school. Sending a sick child to school not only endangers the health of all others but also increases your child’s susceptibility to other illnesses to which they may be exposed.

Consider keeping your child home if he or she:

  • Has a fever of 100 degrees or higher. May return to school after being fever free for 24 hours without any fever-reducing medicine. (Examples are Tylenol, Motrin, and Advil)

  • Vomiting and/or diarrhea within the past 24 hours

  • Has symptoms that prevent him or her from participating in school, such as:

  • Excessive tiredness or lack of appetite

  • Persistent coughing that could be distracting to your child and disruptive to the class.

  • Headache, body aches, earache

  • Unexplained rashes, sores, and crusty, inflamed eyes or other signs of contagious illness

  • Cold or runny nose if nasal discharge is excessive and/or not clear.

  • Sore throat - a minor sore throat is usually not a problem, but a severe sore throat could be strep throat even if there is no fever. Other symptoms of strep throat in children are headache and stomach upset. Contact your pediatrician as your child needs a special test to determine if it is strep throat. If you are awaiting results of a strep culture, please keep your child home from school until results have been received. Positive results must be on antibiotics a full 24 hours before return to school.

  • Children with “strep throat” or impetigo infections must remain home for 24 hours after the first antibiotic has been given.

  • If a diagnosis of pink eye has been made, children must remain home for 24 hours after antibiotics have been given, and/or until all drainage has stopped.

Should any of these conditions be observed while your child is in class, he/she will be sent to the Health Office and excluded from class.

If your child will be absent please contact our  Attendance Officer, Mrs. Gagliardi, at 201-295-2882.