Illness

OLG Illness Policy

Certain symptoms in children may suggest the presence of an infectious disease. Excluding an ill child may decrease the spread of the disease to others in childcare and school settings. Children with the symptoms listed below will be excluded from the childcare or school setting until symptoms improve, or a health care provider has determined that the child can return.

Children with any of the following symptoms will be excluded from school:

FEVER

An elevation of body temperature above normal (100°F or greater). Measure temperature before giving medications to reduce fever.
Child should remain home for 24 hours AFTER fever has reduced before returning to school

*If your child has a fever, we kindly request you do not give them medications and send them to school.

VOMITING

If vomiting occurs, child should stay home until 24 hours after the last episode.

SEVERE ILLNESS

Child is unable to participate in daily activities
Child is unusually tired, has uncontrolled coughing, unexplained irritability, difficulty breathing, wheezing, or other unusual signs for the child.

ILLNESS/MALAISE

Unable to participate in routine activities or needs more care than can be provided by the childcare/school staff.

DIARRHEA

If child has diarrhea they should stay home for 24 hours after the last episode.
Child should not be experiencing any signs of urgency to use the restroom.

RASH WITH FEVER

Exclude until a medical exam indicates these symptoms are not those of a communicable disease that requires exclusion.

Absences Related to Illness

If your child will be absent due to illness, please call the “Absence Line” at 952.929.5463 x9087 or e-mail Ellie Harristhal at ellieharristhal@olgschool.net. All infectious diseases should be reported to the Health Office at schoolnurse@olgschool.net within 24 hours of diagnosis: this includes Strep Throat, Influenza and Influenza Like Illness, COVID-19, Chickenpox, Measles, Meningitis, Hand Foot and Mouth, Pneumonia. All communicable diseases are tracked for trends, and help us watch and prevent outbreaks in school. For more information on infectious diseases in the school setting, please see the Hennepin County Infectious Diseases for schools manual.

Common Infectious Diseases

*Click the disease to be directed to the parent fact sheets from the Hennepin County Infectious Disease Manual

**Please note: Lice is NOT considered an infectious disease and does not require a student to stay home from school. HOWEVER, we will still send an exposure notification when a case of lice is present in your homeroom.

Infectious Disease Notification Process

If there is a infectious disease present in a classroom, the health office will send out an exposure notification via email to all homeroom parents. This is to give you an awareness of risk of exposure, provide you with more information about the disease and symptoms to look out for. Please see example of exposure notice below:

Hello,

OLG Health Services Department was notified of a case of [communicable disease] in [homeroom] Class. Please monitor your student for symptoms.

If your student has symptoms of illness, please refer to our school's policy on illnesses that can be found here in the Illness section.

If your child will be absent due to illness, please notify the Absence Line at 952.929.5463 x9087 and the health office at schoolnurse@olgschool.net.

For more information on [communicable disease], please review the attached document provided by the Minnesota Department of Health.

**A specific handout for each communicable disease from the Minnesota Department of Health will be attached with each email for more information.

OLG Lice Policy

If you suspect lice on your child or are notified that you child has lice by the school nurse, please follow the steps below:

Please call or email the health office at 952-929-5463 ext. 9073 or schoolnurse@olgschool.net. If lice is detected while your child is in school, the health office will contact you.
Please immediately treat with lice shampoo/treatments and follow package instructions. Please see over the counter options below OR

Seek treatment from a professional lice removal salon/center. See recommendations below.

Continue to diligently check child and whole family for lice. It may take up to two weeks to completely treat lice. A second treatment may be required in 7-10 days.
Discourage children in sharing personal items like hair brushes, hats, hair accessories
Contain long hair in braids or ponytails for all students when a known case i
Consider using a lice prevention spray- Ladibugs Prevention Spray.

Treatment Options:

Over the counter drugstore products such as Nix, Rid, Ladibugs products (follow package instructions)
Lice Clinics of America treatment kit from Amazon
Prescription Medication such as ivermectin, malathion, spinosad. Contact pediatrician for more information.
Ladibugs Inc.- 612-804-8888 (preferred)
LiceDoctors Lice Treatment and Removal-612-328-9210
The Lice Crew-612-834-4114
The MN Lice Lady-612-564-0678

In following the recommendations from the Minnesota Department of Health and the American Academy of Pediatrics, there is NO EXCLUSION policy for head lice. We do strongly recommend treatment within 24 hours of detected lice. We will assess each case and work with families on appropriate next steps.

We do not do mass screenings for lice, however, if your child is showing signs of lice (itchy head, visible nits or louse) the health office will do lice checks in our office. We make it a priority to maintain privacy for our students when conducting lice checks. If you would like us to check your child for lice, please reach out to the health office directly.

Illness Prevention at OLG

OLG Health services understands the importance of controlling the spread of infectious diseases here at school. We are working hard to keep a clean and safe environment amongst the many contagious viruses and diseases circling our community throughout the year. Below is a list of procedures we implement throughout the year:

Classroom education on effective hand washing throughout the day specifically before/after meals and before/after bathroom visits.
“Cover your Cough” and “Fight the Flu” campaign including visible posters throughout the school reminding students of the importance of covering your mouth/nose when sneezing, coughing and washing hands afterwards to help prevent the spread.
October-February (peak respiratory season) increasing classroom wipe downs, emphasizing hand washing, refill hand sanitizer throughout school, viral season education to students and staff, and data collection about current illnesses in school to spread awareness.
Supporting homeroom teachers by providing hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes, tissue, and other disinfectant measures.

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