Guidelines for Keeping Sick Students Home from School
A sick student who is unable to participate in school in a meaningful way should be kept home to rest and recover until symptoms resolve. Keeping a sick student home also protects other students, school staff, and visiting community members from contracting a bacterial or viral illness that can be spread from person to person. Please be aware of the following guidelines for school attendance.
- Fever: A student must remain home with a fever > 100° F and may only return after he/she has been fever-free for 24 hours without fever-reducing medicine such as Tylenol or Motrin.
- Diarrhea/Vomiting: A student with diarrhea and/or vomiting must stay at home and may return to school only after being symptom-free for 24 hours.
- Conjunctivitis (Pink Eye): Following a diagnosis of pink eye, a child may return to school 24 hours after the first dose of prescribed medication has been administered.
- Rashes: Common infectious diseases with rashes are most contagious in the early stages. A student with a suspicious rash must stay at home and may return to school only after a health care provider has made a diagnosis and authorizes the student’s return to school in writing or have symptoms resolved completely.
- Head lice (pediculosis): Students who have an active case of live lice may attend school only after treatment which eliminates all live lice. Head lice do not jump or fly and are most commonly contracted by head-to-head touch. Head lice are common in school-aged children, so parents should routinely monitor children for live lice and teach the avoidance of behaviors that spread lice.
If you take your student to a healthcare provider for an evaluation of illness or injury, please be sure to request a written letter stating when your student may return to school and any accommodations required upon his/her return.
A healthy school community requires parents and schools to partner with each other. To prevent/minimize local outbreaks of contagious disease, parents must keep students who have an illness that can be spread from person to person at home, and our nurse will communicate this absence with the attendance clerk or office at the student’s campus.
