ALL MEDICINES given at school must have a district form signed by the student’s health care provider, including interim antibiotics and over-the-counter medicines. All medicines are given by the R.N. or trained staff and kept locked. Students must not carry any medicines at school including OTC medicines, according to the district’s Zero Tolerance Policy. The physician permission form for medication is usually in effect for the entire school year. Children with severe allergies are required to have their prescription Epipen on hand at school if needed. Children with moderate to severe asthma are encouraged to have an inhaler available at school. All medicines kept at school are given to the teacher to take on fieldtrips. Students with known school medications are given a renewal district physician form at the end of the year.
Medicines cannot be given without a district form signed by the health care prescriber. This includes Tylenol and Mortin. When the R.N. is on site she is allowed to give Tylenol or Mortin to a student in need, if the parent signs permission on the goldenrod Health Information Exchange Consent form distributed at the beginning of the school year. The R.N. is encouraged to notify the parents, if possible, before giving these medications. Other office staff is not allowed to give medication without the district form signed by the prescribing physician. Parents are allowed to come to school to give their child medicines on a non-routine basis.
For your child’s own well being, as well as the protection of others, a child should remain at home if s/he has a cold has a fever is just not feeling well has any other symptoms of illness. The school has no way of providing for children who are ill except to contact the parent or emergency contact person and request that the child be picked up and taken home.
Children entering Kindergarten should have:
Five (5) D TaP (4 doses meet requirement if at least one was given on or after the 4th birthday).
Four (4) Polio (3 doses meet requirement if at least one was given on or after the 4th birthday).
Three (3) Hep B.
Two (2) MMR (1st dose on or after 1st birthday).
One (1) Varicella, or proof of the disease
For the complete kindergarten-12th grade immunization policy here.
Exclusion and Readmission of Students with Pediculosis (Lice)
As many of you know, the problem of head lice/nits is ongoing and can be difficult to control at home and at school. Even though lice are not a major threat to health, they are a frustrating nuisance and are easily spread. In order to prevent outbreaks in the school setting, the following procedures are followed:
Exclusion: When a student is identified as having live head lice, the student is to be excluded from school at the end of the school day for treatment.
Readmission: After treatment at home, it’s mandatory to return to school the next day via the health office, for inspection. Parents must be notified that students who return to school with live lice will be sent home. As such, parents are advised to accompany their child to school. Upon checking the head, if live lice are found, the child returns home with parent for treatment. If child has been treated and there are no live lice, the child may return to class if they have been treated, even though nits are still present.
If a child has untreated or recurrent infestations, then the nurse and parent must work together to find the likely source of re-infestation and solve that problem by:
Education of parent using written materials and verbal instructions.
Referral to child’s primary care doctor regarding pediculocide resistance.
Mechanical (manual) removal of all nits, although time consuming, is essential.
Assistance of community agencies or social service agencies, if appropriate, for assistance with infestation management.
Mass screening (school-wide or whole classroom) is not an evidence-based practice in controlling head lice infestations/reinfestations. It is the responsibility of the parent to treat head lice infestation. Key to success in controlling head lice, with small chance of recurrence, is in the removal of all nits after the use of the pediculocide. Although students are allowed back to class with any reportedly treated hair when there are no live lice, we encourage parents to continue removing nits until the problem is resolved.
Based on the advice and best practices of the medical community, school nurses no longer perform classroom screenings or send notices out to classrooms.
For questions or more information, contact the school-site nurse or health assistant.