Nurse's Notes

Recommendations for When Your Child Should Stay Home from School

Any illness which is accompanied by decreased energy and an inability to sustain usual daily activity level.

Diarrhea or Vomiting:  until illness is over and your child does not experience vomiting or diarrhea for at least 24 hours – without use of medicine.

Bad coughs/Cold Symptoms  (continual coughing, persistent runny nose, headache) which cause interference with your child’s ability to focus on school activities.

Fever of 100 degrees or greater, by mouth( or 99 degrees or greater under the arm).  Your child should be fever-free for 24 hours, without the use of medicine before returning to school.

If antibiotics are prescribed for communicable diseases, the medication must be given for 24 hours at home before the student returns to school. 

Red eye(s) or Skin Rash:  Your child may return to school when accompanied by a doctor’s note which states your child is cleared to return to school.  If eye drop medication is prescribed, your child will need to complete 24 hours of medication at home, prior to returning to school. 

Please call the health office to speak to the R.N. if your child is diagnosed with a communicable disease , such as strep, conjunctivitis, measles, influenza, fifth’s disease, chicken pox, impetigo, MRSA, mononucleosis or shingles

Allergies

Food Allergies in the Classroom

In an effort to provide a safe and healthy environment for all of our students, we are providing you with information to help students with food allergies avoid exposure to allergens.  A food allergy is a very serious issue.  Exposure to the allergen can cause reactions varying from itching or swelling of the mouth, tongue and lips, to life threatening shortness of breath and a drop in blood pressure.

At the start of each school year, classroom teachers send out a notification about how snacks are to be handled for their particular classroom. In the event that a food allergy condition is present, there may be food restrictions for your child’s classroom.   If your child is in a classroom with specific snack restrictions, please use the following information to guide you in determining if the snack you send to school is appropriate.

  • Do not send homemade snacks with your child, unless it is fresh fruit or vegetables, which are a healthy option. Homemade snacks allow for the possibility of cross-contamination with food allergens, even though the food itself may be allergen free.

  • Please remind your students that they should not share their food.

  • Common allergens also found in processed foods are dairy, soy, wheat, and eggs.  If your child’s classroom restricts any of these items, please refer to package labeling to determine the presence of these items.

  • Use the food label on the snack package/container to guide you in determining the allergen content or exposure.  

  • Labels will typically indicate potential exposure to allergens depending on how the product is manufactured, so if the restriction is peanut or tree nut based, please avoid snacks that contain the label language “Manufactured in a facility that also processes peanuts (and/or any other tree nut)” or “Manufactured on equipment that also processes peanuts (and/or any other tree nut), or “May contain traces of peanuts (and/or any other tree nut)”.

Examples of Tree Nuts include almonds, filberts, shea nuts, shea butter and/or shea oil, Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios, and walnuts, nut flours (ie. almond flour) or nut butters (ie. almond or cashew butter)

Examples of Peanut products to avoid include peanuts, peanut flour, peanut oil, peanut butter.  

Please note: Food labels/ingredients may change over time, so please always  read the label before sending a snack. Please also note that due to use of different manufacturing and/or packaging facilities, a product may be safe in a certain size package but not safe in another size package.