Health Services Mission Statement
We are committed to meet the health demands, as well as to advance the well-being, academic success, and life-long achievement of our students. To that end, Health Services facilitates positive student responses to normal human development; promotes health and safety in the school environment; intervenes with actual and potential conditions; provides case management services; and actively collaborates with other district disciplines to build student and family capacity for adaptation, self-management, self-advocacy, and learning.
When to Keep Sick Children Home From School
Deciding when to keep a sick child at home from school is not always easy. It's important for children to attend school and for some parents staying home means missing work. But when a child is truly sick, they need to stay home in the care of an adult to get well and to prevent spreading illness to others.
Please keep the school office up to date with current phone numbers so you or an alternate contact can be reached if your child becomes ill or injured at school. When calling your child is absent, you may be asked to describe symptoms and indicate whether a fever is present. This information is important to monitor illness-related trends in your child's school.
The following guidelines will help you decide whether your child is too ill to go to school
Your child may be too ill to go to school if he or she has any of these signs:
- Seems very tired and needs bed rest (this is common with flu symptoms)
- Has vomiting or diarrhea
- Becomes short of breath or is wheezing
- Has a cough that disrupts normal activity
- Has distracting pain from earache, headache, sore throat or recent injury
- Has yellow or green drainage from eye(s)
- Breaks out in a rash; not all rashes require that a child stay home from school, check with your child's doctor
- Fever; your child should not go to school with a temperature above 100.0 F, your child may return to school when (s)he is feeling better and is fever free for 24 hours without fever-reducing medications (Tylenol/Motrin, etc.)
- Your child should stay home from school if (s)he has a contagious disease. A contagious disease is one that can be spread by close contact with a person or object. Examples are chickenpox, flu, vomiting, diarrhea, colds, strep throat, and "pinkeye." A disease can be contagious before the child shows signs of illness. It is very hard to prevent the spread of some germs, especially in a school classroom. Good handwashing will help prevent the spread of germs.