Too Sick for School?

When to keep your sick child home from school

This is not always the easiest thing to determine. Keeping children home when they are too sick for school protects other students and staff from potential illness.

If your child becomes ill at school and the teacher or school nurse feel the child is too sick to benefit from school or is contagious to other children, you will be called to come and take him/her home from school. It is essential that your child's teacher have a phone number where you can be contacted during the day and an emergency number in the event you cannot be reached. Please be sure that arrangements can be made to transport your child home from school and that childcare is available in case of illness. If your daytime or emergency phone number changes during the year, please notify your child's teacher immediately.

Please call the school's Health Office if you have any questions or concerns.

Symptoms that your child is too sick for school

If your child has any of the following symptoms, please keep him/her home, or make appropriate child care arrangements. It will be necessary to pick your student up from school as soon as possible if he/she shows any of the following symptoms at school:

  • Fever: temperature of 100 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. Child must not have a fever for 24 hours before returning to school.
  • Vomiting: child should not return to school for 24 hours following the last episode of vomiting.
  • Diarrhea: more than one watery stool in a 24-hour period, especially if the child acts or looks ill.
  • Sore throat: especially with fever or swollen glands in the neck.
  • Strep Throat: must have been taking an antibiotic for at least 24 hours before returning to school
  • Chronic cough and/or runny nose: continual coughing and excessive nasal discharge. Conditions may be contagious and may require treatment from your health care provider.
  • Head lice: until your child has been treated according to the nurse or doctor’s instructions
  • Unusual appearance, behavior: abnormally tired, pale, lack of appetite, difficult to wake, confused or irritable. This is sufficient reason to exclude a child from school.