HEALTH GUIDELINES
Occasionally, parents are confronted by their child complaining of feeling ill on a school day. The following information is designed to offer guidance of when to send your child to school and when to keep them home due to illness. They are meant to benefit your child and the SAS community’s health and well being. These are also conditions for which your child may be sent home from school. Illness is an excused absence and your child will not be penalized for missing class. If you are unsure of which action you should take, please contact your doctor or school nurse.
FEVER
- A fever is a warning that all is not right with the body. The best way to check for fever is with a thermometer, which every home should have. No child with a temperature equal to or above 100 F (37.8 C) should be sent to school. A child needs to be fever free for 24 hours before returning to school.
- Normal body temperature is 98.6 F (37 C).
COLD, SORE THROAT, COUGH
- A child with a “mild” cold, but otherwise feeling well, may go to school.
- A child with a “heavy” cold and a hacking or productive cough belongs at home even if there is no fever.
- A child complaining of a mild sore throat with no other symptoms may go to school. If white spots can be seen in the back of the throat, or if fever is present, keep the child at home.
STOMACH ACHE, VOMITING, DIARRHEA
- Consult your doctor if your child has a stomach ache or abdominal pains which are persistent or severe enough to limit his/her activity.
- If vomiting occurs, keep your child home until he or she can keep food down.
- A child with diarrhea should be kept home.
- Toothache – contact your dentist
- Earache – consult you doctor
- Headache – a child whose only complaint is a minor headache usually need not be kept home. Encourage your child to drink plenty of fluids and ensure they are getting a proper amount of sleep each night. Frequent or persistent headaches may indicate a serious health problem.
PAIN
CONJUNCTIVITIS
- Also known as “pink eye”. Student will be sent home/must stay home until they have received 24 hours of antibiotic eye drop treatment.
- Symptoms include eye redness, itching, and increased drainage or pus. It is very contagious!
RASH
- Rash or spots may cover the entire body or appear in only one area. Call you physician or school nurse if you are uncertain about whether to send your child to school with a rash.
The information provided is not intended as a substitute for appropriate medical intervention. If your child is kept home from school, please call your school secretary to notify them of the absence. For further questions please contact your school nurse.
