If you notice a change in your child’s behavior, such as feeling tired or out-of-sorts, consider this a sign of the onset of illness, which is the most contagious time. Keep your child home for some extra rest if he/she is overly tired or irritable.
Children with communicable diseases (including serious colds, sore throats, persistent cough, rash, conjunctivitis and the like) or who have vomited or had diarrhea or had a fever over 100 degrees in the 24 hours preceding the school day must be kept at home. If your child has had a throat culture, please keep him or her at home until the results have been reported to you—even if your doctor says it is all right to send the child to school. A child who is prescribed an antibiotic must be on the medication for 24 hours before returning to school.
Preprimary and Primary children with a discolored discharge from their nose should be kept at home until it stops. As you can imagine, children this age cannot be expected to handle a runny nose in a hygienic manner.
Please let the office know if your child won’t be coming to school (208.726.9060). If they are, heaven forbid, sick with something contagious, like strep throat or conjunctivitis, please call the administrative office as soon as you have a doctor’s note (or verbal confirmation), so that everyone who might have been exposed can be alerted.
Illness
We urge sound parental judgment in determining whether your child is healthy enough to go to school. This is essential in minimizing exposure to contagious diseases. You do not want your child unnecessarily exposed to illness by others, so please do your part by not sending your child in sick. He/She should be healthy enough to participate in normal activities including going out of doors at recess time. Should a child show evidence of or develop any of these symptoms, parents should not send and will be called to take a child home.
- Fever (temperature over 98.6 degrees)
- Cough
- Rash
- Vomiting
- Discharge of excess mucous from the nose
- Eye infection (inflammation, crusting, pinkness, & weepiness)
- Earache
- Enlarged glands
- Diarrhea
- Sore Throat
Children who have been ill may return to school after being symptom free for 24 hours or when a physician states that the child is no longer contagious. In the event your child becomes ill during school hours, you will be notified. Parents must arrange for their child to be picked up as quickly as possible. The faculty will determine if a child is too sick to stay at school and should be picked up.
Medications at School
We discourage the administration of medication during school hours. We request that, whenever possible, medication doses be scheduled during non-school hours. We realize that this may not always be possible or practical.
In the event that your child needs to have a medication administered at school we ask that you adhere to the following requirements:
Over the Counter Medications: Written authorization, signed by the parent and attending physician, must be given to the school before a staff member may administer any medication, whether prescription or over-the-counter.
This authorization must include:
- The name of the medication
- Dosage to be given (if different than dosage instructions on the packaging a doctor’s note is necessary)
- Time of administration
- Duration of treatment
- Sequence, if more than one medication is to be taken
- Proper storage, i.e. refrigeration or shelf
- Any special instructions or concerns
- Signature of parent and attending physician
Over-the-counter medication must be in the original container labeled by the parent with the child’s name. The child must have had the first dose of medication at home. The parent is responsible for submitting a new form to the school each time there is a change in the dosage or in the time the medication is to be taken.
Prescription Medication: Written authorization, signed by the parent and attending physician, must be given to the school before a staff member may administer any medication, whether prescription or over-the-counter. A signed letter from the doctor may be submitted in lieu of our Authorization for Medication from as long as it contains all the required information (see above).
Prescription medication must be in the original container with the pharmacy label affixed containing the child’s name, the name of medication, the dosage amount, and the time to be administered. For short term medications, such as a 10-day antibiotic, it is helpful if the pharmacist can give you a second, labeled container so that the doses of the medication needed during school hours can be kept at school instead of going back and forth every day.
Send the proper device to administer the medication. All medications will be kept under lock and key and administered at the appropriate time. It is beneficial that you speak to the teacher about the medication in general. Within one week after the expiration of the effective date on the physician order, the parent must personally collect any unused portion of the medication. Medications not claimed within that period will be destroyed.
Children may not have any medication (including inhalers and over-the-counter items such as cough drops, Tylenol, vitamins, chap stick, bug repellant and sunscreen) with them in the classroom, in their lunch boxes, or backpacks. Sunscreens and bug repellents must be clearly marked and kept out of the reach of the children. Please deliver these items to the staff, along with a signed Health History Record detailing instructions for their use.
If any of the above requirements are not complete or written directions are unclear concerning the administration of the medication, the staff will not administer the medicine. We will attempt to contact you in this event.
Parent volunteers and employees shall not store medications, cosmetics or other hazardous substances in areas, pockets or purses that are accessible to children.
Allergies
Allergies and intolerance to food, medication, or any other substance, and actions to be taken in an emergency situation are required to be documented by the child’s physician. Said documentation is then filed in the school records. Parents are also advised to discuss their child’s allergies with the classroom director.