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News and Events 		Is My Child Well Enough to Go to School?

Many parents are frequently concerned about when to keep children home or send them to school. The following information is intended to help parents with this decision.

General Practice

  1. If child has had a fever of 100º or more, the child should stay home for 24 hours after the temperature returns to normal.
  2. If child has vomited or had diarrhea, the child should stay home until 24 hours after the last episode.
  3. If child has any rash that is disease-related or you do not know the cause of, check with your family physician before sending the child to school.
  4. If child is ill please call the school to report the illness.

Have your children had their shots


Common Concerns Parents Have About the Health of Their School-Aged Child

Disease Symptoms
Incubation Period
 School Action and Comments on Communicability Source of Infection and Mode of Transportation
Chickenpox Slight fever, general feeling of illness, rash resembling water blisters appearing after 3-4 days.  Scabs appear later
2 to 3 weeks
 1. Exclude from school until vesicles are dry and crusted.  Usually 10 days.  
2. Contagious five days before eruption and not more than six days after last crop of vesicles 		Virus spread directly from person through discharge from the nose and mouth, also by discharge from the skin and mucous membranes of infected persons. Readily communicable. One attack usually confers immunity. Children on immunosuppressive drugs at high risk.
Cold Sores 
(Herpes Simplex)		 Vesicles usually on lips but may occur anywhere on skin or in mucous membranes.  May be confused with Impetigo.
2 to 12 days
 1. No restriction. 
2. May be communicable as long as seven weeks after lesion appears.		 Virus is transmitted by direct contact with infected persons, a majority of whom have no apparent infection.
Common Cold Acute upper respiratory signs, including watery eyes, sneezing, running nose, general feeling of illness.
12 hours to 3 days
 1.  No restrictions unless ill. 
2. Communicable 24 hours before onset and fore five days after nasal involvement.		 Virus spread directly through coughing, sneezing, and explosive manner of speech in which droplets are cast; indirectly through articles  freshly soiled by discharges of infected person. 
Influenza Chills, body ache, headache, fever, sore throat, nose and possible stomach ache.
24 - 72 hours
 1. Exclude from school until clinically well, usually 2-7 days. Virus spread directly through coughing, sneezing and contact with nose or throat discharge of patient.  Possibly airborne.
Impetigo Blisters, pustule rapidly covered with honey-colored crust.  May be confused with cold sores.
1 to 6 days,
occasionally longer
 1. Exclude from school until verification of treatment, or until lesions are dry. 
2. Contagious until lesions are healed.		 Bacteria spread by direct contact with persons or with articles freshly soiled with discharges from nose or throat of patient; airborne transmission also occurs.  Usually caused by Group A Bets-Streptococcus.
Mono-Nucleosis Include fever, sore throat, swollen lymph glands (neck).
Probably 2 to 6 weeks
 1. Restrict only according to doctor orders. 
2. Period of communicability unknown.		 Virus spread by respiratory route. Kissing may facilitate spread among young adults.
Lice 
(Pediculosis)		 Infestation of the head hair or other hairy parts of the body or of clothing with lice or nits.  Pubic (crab) lice usually infest in the public area. Scratching causes reddened rash-like area. (Nits--eggs, tiny white, stuck to hair, usually close to scalp at neckline and/or behind ears.)
Variable, 
eggs hatch in one week
 1. Exclude until lice and nits are adequately treated or removed. Health office to re-examine student 10 days after treatment. 
2. Considered communicable until treated. 
3. Advise exam of household contacts for nits and lice. 
4. When appropriate, schools may exclude until all nits are removed.		 Louse transmitted primarily by direct contact with infested persons. Lice can also be transmitted through combs, brushes, bedding, wearing apparel, and upholstered furniture. 
 
Pink Eye 
(Conjunctivitis)		 Redness of conjunctiva. May or may not have purulent discharge.  Eye irritation.
24 - 72 hours
 1. Refer for medical diagnosis and treatment. 
2. Communicability depends on agent. 
3. Exclude from school until verification of diagnosis and treatment.		 Most are viral in etiology; some bacterial. May be spread though hand-eye contact.
Reye's Syndrome Sudden onset of violent vomiting, mental confusion, extreme sleepiness, very fatigued, twitching or jerking movements, hostility, coma.
1 to 7 days following
viral infection (cold,
flu, chicken pox)
 1. If one or more symptoms appear, call physician immediately.
2. Go to emergency room of hospital.
3. Do not give aspirin or aspirin substitutes.
4. Exclude from school until clinically well.		 Usually follows viral infection. It is not contagious. Cause unknown. No prevention. Requires immediate attention at onset of symptoms. Most common in young children.
Ringworm Body (Tinea Corporis) Ring-shaped or irregular lesion with elevated vesicular or scaly borders. May show central clearing. May become inflamed and encrusted.
1 to 3 weeks
 1. Exclude from school until verification of treatment.
2. Communicable as long as fungi can be recovered.		 Contact with man or animal infected with the fungus or its spores, and by contact with contaminated articles.
Scabies Itching, scratch marks, or burrow marks. Common sites are thighs, belt line, wrists, elbows, webs of fingers. Scratching may cause secondary infections or rash.
Days to weeks
 1. Exclude from school until adequately treated.
2. Communicable until treated.
3. Family should be examined.		 Mite is transferred by direct contact with an infected person, and to a limited extent, undergarments or soiled sheets freshly contaminated by and infected person.
Strep Throat Fever, sore throat, headache, nausea, vomiting. (If associated with rash, it is called Scarlet Fever.)
1 to 3 days
 1. Exclude from school until throat culture report is received.
2. If positive for strep, exclude from school until 24 hours after antibiotic treatment is started and until clinically well.		 Bacteria spread directly from nose and throat discharges of infected persons.

Most Holy Trinity School
3946 Wooddale Avenue S
St. Louis Park, MN 55416
(952)926-2222

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