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A Note From The School Nurse:
When To Keep Your Child Home From School
Healthy children are successful learners. Children work hard during the school day and need to be healthy to be able to put the needed energy into a school day. An ill child is not able to put forth their all to be a successful
learner during a school day. Knowing when to keep children home, helps protect everyone and gives the ill
child time to recover.
To protect all the children in the District, Mt. Lebanon follows the Allegheny County Health Department Guide to Infectious Diseases. (ACHD Guide to Infectious Diseases in Schools); the CDC Guidelines and the
AAP).
With the new Flu and Respiratory season upon us, please utilize the following guidelines when determining if your child is well enough or not to attend school:
- Acute cold/cough - where the student is unable to function or concentrate at school.
- Nausea/vomiting/diarrhea.
- Children should be free from vomiting/diarrhea for 24 hours before returning to school.
- Temperature of 100 degrees or above.
- Children should be fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication to return to school.
- Contagious illness.
- Such as strep throat - conjunctivitis - any illness or disease process that the use of an antibiotic is required.
- If your child is started on an antibiotic for an infection…they need to be on the antibiotic for 24 full hours prior to returning to school, along with the above guidelines for fever, etc.
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The exception is for Pertussis (whooping cough) which is 5 days on the antibiotic before returning to school on Day 6.
- Suspected contagious disease/rash - if your child is sent to school with a suspected contagious disease/rash, a parent/guardian will be contacted to pick your child up, and a diagnostic referral will be given for your child to be seen by his/her health care provider. The diagnostic referral must be completed and the student cleared for re-admittance by a licensed healthcare provider before the student returns to school. The student must then be checked into school through the nurse’s office with the completed Diagnostic referral.
- The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends that “people with influenza-like illness remain at home until at least 24 hours after they are symptom and fever-free without the use of fever-reducing medications.”
- COVID - if your child is diagnosed with COVID - please follow the CDC guidelines for Respiratory viral illnesses…which is to keep your child home from school until symptoms improve for 24 hours prior to returning and your child is fever-free without the use of fever-reducing medication s for 24 hours prior to returning. Masking is recommended for 10 days from the start of symptoms or positive test.
Practicing good health hygiene is important. Please encourage proper handwashing and to cover your cough/sneeze.
Please make sure to contact your child’s physician with any symptoms or concerns and to notify your child’s school nurse of any illnesses.
Thank you for your support and cooperation in keeping our students safe and healthy.
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