Is your child too sick for school
It’s hard to believe we are almost halfway through December already! Time with families and friends for the holidays are already in full swing and with that, we are seeing the spread of many illnesses. We have coughs, colds, runny noses, fevers, sore throats and even some very red eyes this year. Please remember to keep your children home if they are sick and not feeling well, communicable diseases can affect each person differently so sharing those germs may mean a much bigger illness for someone else.
How do I know when to keep my child home - the 24 hour rule of thumb is a good guide and part of our policy here at school.
24 hours without a temperature/fever over 100.0 and without the use of fever reducing medication such as Tylenol or Advil/Motrin
24 hours without vomiting or diarrhea and tolerating a normal diet
24 hours of receiving medication for treatment of an illness/infection
If your child still seems tired, pale, reduced appetite, not tolerating solid foods, and/or generally “not themselves”. It’s best to keep them home from school. Some illnesses may take longer to recover from before your child is well enough to return to school and if your child is recovering from one illness, their immune system may contract something else more easily. If you send your child to school to “see how it goes”, you are potentially exposing other children to illness. This ripple effect exposes classmates and then their siblings and families as well as school staff to illness.
Now what about those red eyes? Pink eye, also known as conjunctivitis, has been on the move this fall since the start of school. For some it’s been eye irritation that develops into pink eye, others its definite pink eye right out of the gate. As always follow up with your provider for concerns about your child's health. The best way to help the spread of pink eye is frequent hand washing and not touching your eyes. The Minnesota Department of Health no longer requires students to stay home for pink eye. They can be at school as long as they are comfortable enough to get through the day. For more information on pink eye and other communicable diseases please see the school website, under the health office section, there are several fact sheets for various communicable diseases.
If your child needs to stay home for the day, please report that absence to the school. PreK-6 grades should be reported to West Elementary. 7-12 should be reported to Central High School. Influenza like Illnesses (Influenza, RSV, COVID, any other respiratory illnesses) should be reported to the health office in the building they attend. We do follow the recommended CDC isolation guidelines for COVID and all cases should be reported to the health office. You can reach West Elementary at 836-6450 and Central High School at 836-6184. The Health Office extensions are 5111 for West, and 4120 for Central.
If your child is well enough to attend school, but experiencing mild symptoms, ways to mitigate the spread of minor illnesses and help your child feel better throughout the day include, covering your cough and sneezes, frequent hand washing, staying hydrated, getting plenty of sleep and staying home when you need to. Over the counter medications are allowed at school, at the high school they should be in the original container and kept in the students locker, if your child needs assistance with administration they can bring it to the health office. At the elementary school, students should have over the counter medications brought to the health office in the original container with instructions on how/when to give the medication to your child.
Wishing you all a happy and healthy holiday season! All you do to keep our students and staff as healthy as we can be during these times of increased illness is very appreciated.
In health,
Desirée Haupert CCMA
MCC Health Services Coordinator