Parents Guide to Illness Absences
It is rare for a child to make it through the entire school year with perfect attendance. Listed below are the 4 top ailments that keep kids out of school. Parents, pay close attention; keep your child home if you observe the following.
| Keep
your child home for a … |
1. Cold (Upper Respiratory Viral infection)
| .
.if it is
accompanied by a fever, or severe coughing. |
2. Stomach Flu (Gastroenteritis)
| . .
.if your child is vomiting or has diarrhea. |
3. Pink eye (Conjunctivitis)
| . . .if
the eye is watery, pink, and oozing. Ask your pediatrician if antibiotic is needed. |
4. Fever
| . . .if
body temperature is 100 degrees or greater. *Child must be fever free before returning to school. |
A student with a temperature 100 degrees or greater or who has vomited MUST go home. It is the parent's responsibility to arrange for this to occur within an hour of being notified. The school has a responsibility to protect the health of the remaining students.
Any student missing school for three consecutive days because of illness will have to show a doctor's excuse and/or release to return to class. This may be faxed within the day of the student's return from the doctor's office to the school office using fax number 217-625-2251.
We strongly discourage the practice of taking medication at school. However, there are exceptions for those students on long term medication for the student's health and well being. The school, with proper authorization from parents and physician, asks those students taking prescribed drugs to report to the nurse's office to turn over those drugs which will be dispensed by the nurse at the appropriate times. Complete medication guidelines are cited in board policy 7:270.
Only the nurse or her designee may decide to send a sick or injured student home. A student will not be allowed to go home sick unless a parent comes to pick up the student or other arrangements are made.
We realize that it is not always convenient for you to stay home with your child when they are sick, but sending your sick child to school is not fair to your child’s teachers or classmates. This is how minor illnesses become an epidemic in a school.
If you can not always take the day off work at a moment’s notice, please have a back-up sitter for your child in the event they are ill in the morning.
| Make sure the school always has current emergency phone numbers in case your child should get sick at school. Notify the school if your cell phone number changes. |
Our goal is to provide a safe and healthy environment for all of the children. You can help us to continue doing this by educating your child in the importance of frequent and proper hand washing, covering coughs and sneezes with their inner elbow, discarding soiled tissues, and by keeping your child home when he/she is sick.
Thank you for participating in responsible parenting.
