When to Keep a Child Home

Sometimes it can be difficult for a parent to decide whether to send children to school when they wake up with early symptoms of an illness or complaints that they do not feel well.  In general, unless your child is significantly ill, the best place for them to be is in school.  However, there are some situations in which it is best to plan on keeping your child home for a day of rest or to arrange for an appointment with your healthcare provider.  The following are a few such situations that warrant watching and possibly conferring with your health care provider:

• Temperature greater than 100°, or a fever that requires control with medication.  A child with fever should not return to school until they are free of fever for 24 hours without taking fever reducing medication.
• Vomiting or diarrhea - A child should not return to school until the symptoms have resolved for 24 hours and the child is able to keep down food and liquid.
• Child is too sleepy or ill to profit from sitting in class all day
• Significant cough that makes a child feel uncomfortable or disrupts the class
• Sore throat that is severe, accompanied by fever and/or feeling ill, or  persists longer than 48 hours 
• Honey-crusted sores or a rash especially if accompanied by other symptoms or illness 
• Red or draining eyes –if student is diagnosed with pink eye (conjunctivitis) they must be on antibiotic drops/ointment for 24 hours before returning to school 
• Large amount of discolored nasal discharge, especially if accompanied by facial pain or headache
• Severe ear pain or drainage from the ear
• Severe headache, especially if accompanied by fever
• Any condition that you think may be serious or contagious to others.

Please keep your child’s school current with updated phone numbers where you can be reached during the day should your child become ill at school and require early dismissal. 

Remember, whenever you keep your child home from school,  please notify your child's school.