When your child is sick...

Should I keep my child home or send him/her to school? School policy requires a child to stay home if they:

• Have a fever of 100.4° or higher

• Have been vomiting or have diarrhea

• Has draining red eyes

• Has symptoms that keep your child from participating in school, such as:

  • Very tired or lack of appetite

  • Cough that they cannot control or sneezing often

  • Headache, body aches, or earache

  • Sore throat – a little sore throat is ok for school, but a bad sore throat could be strep throat, even if there is no fever. Other signs of strep throat in children are a headache, stomach upset, or rash. Call your doctor if your child has these signs. A special test is needed to know if it is strep throat

• Keep your child home if they are coughing or sneezing often because this spreads the sickness to others.

ICSD follows the 24 Hour Rule:

• Fever: Keep your child home until his or her fever has been gone for 24 hours without medicine, such as Tylenol or ibuprofen. Colds can be contagious for at least 48 hours. Returning to school too soon may slow recovery and make others sick.

• Vomiting or diarrhea: Keep your child home for 24 hours after the LAST time they vomited or had diarrhea.

• Antibiotics: Keep your child home until 24 hours after the FIRST dose of antibiotic for anything like ear infection or strep throat.

We often have many children and adults with colds coming to school, and each one is passing their sickness to others. Please help others from becoming sick by keeping your child home while the sickest.

When you call your child’s school to notify them that your child will not be there due to illness, please provide some basic symptoms so we can help track influenza for the Iowa Department of Public Health. No identifying information is ever given, only symptoms. For information, or if you have questions, please contact the School Nurse.