When to Stay Home

Should I keep my child home?

As parents, it is a judgment call on when to keep our kids home from school due to illness. The following are guidelines that Douglas County School District follows for when children must be excluded from school due to illness:

• Fever – 100° or higher currently or within the last 24 hours

• Signs/symptoms of possible severe illness

• Diarrhea – defined as having more than 6 loose stools in a 24-hour period, or 3 in a school day. The student is to remain excluded for 24 hours or until a medical exam indicates that it is not due to a communicable disease.

• Vomiting – defined as two or more episodes in the previous 24 hours, or 1 episode in the school day.

• Mouth/Face Sores (Impetigo) – The student must be seen and diagnosed and treated by a doctor. The doctor must then write a note that states when the student with impetigo may return to school. If the student returns to school with the mouth sores still weeping, the sores will be kept covered with a bandaid/bandage throughout the school day per the School Nurse.

. • Rash with fever or behavior change – The student remains excluded until a medical exam indicates that these symptoms are not those of a communicable disease that requires exclusion.

• Suspicious skin lesions – The student remains excluded until treatment has begun.

• Conjunctivitis (pink eye)– The student remains excluded until treatment has begun, when pus-like drainage has been resolved, or in non-treated cases, when symptoms have subsided.

• Unusual color of skin, eyes, stool, or urine – The student is to remain excluded until a medical exam indicates no evidence of hepatitis (jaundice, gray or white stool, dark urine).

• Exclusion may also occur for the mildly ill child if the child is unable to participate in normal activities or if the child needs more care than can be provided by school staff.

If your child is ill and staying home, please remember to call the PHES office at 775-267-3622 that morning.