Health & Wellness Resources

**Please contact your school or refer to your school’s attendance policies or handbook to learn more about excusing your student for illnesses**

Whether or not to keep a child home from school isn’t always an easy decision. It is obvious that a very ill child does not belong at school, but there are lots of days when common sense isn’t enough to make the choice. The following discussion may give parents some helpful guidelines.

To begin, children with fevers should not be in school. Remember that ill children sometimes have normal temperatures in the morning but become feverish by afternoon. A child with a fever the afternoon before a school day should stay home the following day. Returning to school is appropriate after 24 hours of being fever free. Definitions of “fever” vary, but it is generally accepted that the line is crossed somewhere between 100 and 100.4 degrees F. On the other hand, some children feel very ill with small temperature elevations.

Conditions making students too uncomfortable to participate in class are also reasonable grounds for remaining at home. Examples are urinary tract infections, painful injuries, and nagging coughs. Sometimes the school nurse can help make students more comfortable and keep them at school. An example is the administration of pain medication as needed for healing fractures (see the section on Medications at School). Parents may also consult the school nurse with questions about whether or not to keep a child home from school, or with questions about how the school environment might be modified to accommodate a student’s problems.

Finally, children with contagious diseases, spread by contact or coughing or sneezing, should stay home. Examples of these are influenza, chicken pox, and strep throat. A child with strep throat may return to school after 24 hours of antibiotics if feeling well enough. Recent reports have stated that the common cold is most contagious during the first three days of infection. Of course, every child with a sniffle cannot miss school, but consideration for other students and staff is expected and appreciated. Children should be reminded to use tissues to cover coughs and sneezes and ESPECIALLY to wash hands frequently.

Children with gastrointestinal illness, including stomach pain, vomiting, and/or diarrhea, should be kept home until symptoms have resolved, they are able to eat a regular diet and drink fluids without issue, and they are feeling well enough to fully engage in school activities. If a child has vomited, please keep them home until 24 hours have passed from the last episode.

Children with colds should be kept home as appropriate. Constant coughing and sneezing are sufficient reason. Another infection condition is conjunctivitis, or “pink eye”. Though the state Department of Health no longer requires exclusion of students with pink eye from school, most Los Alamos pediatricians recommend staying at home for the first 24 hours of treatment. Parents may request that the school nurse check on a child returning to school after an illness. Sometimes a child seems well enough to return to school in the morning but parents are concerned that the child may not feel well later.

It is the policy of Los Alamos Public Schools that every effort should be made to administer all medications at home. When it is necessary that students receive medication at school, arrangements should be made with the school nurse.  A nurse can administer medications at school if the proper forms are completed and have the required signatures.  Different types of medication may require different forms.  This could include approval for over the counter meds, prescription meds, inhalers, or other medication necessary for chronic conditions.

Below are some quick guidelines for administering medication at school; however, if you are unsure which forms you should complete, contact the nurse at your school.

• When it is necessary that a student receive medication at school for a chronic health condition, a Los Alamos Public Schools Permission For Administering Medication In Schools form must be completed each school year by a physician licensed to prescribe medication in the state of New Mexico, the student’s parent or guardian, the school nurse, and the principal.

• Options for administration include self-administration, supervised/assisted administration, and supervised self-administration (The regulations referred to above define these terms.)

• If a student has asthma, it is also necessary to notify the school nurse and complete a Student Asthma Information form. A parent who wants a student to carry an inhaler should speak directly to the school nurse to make these arrangements, and to discuss having a back-up inhaler available in the nurse’s office.

• If a student has a short-term medical problem requiring self-administration of medication at school, the student or parent should notify the nurse.  Arrangements can be made to bring one day’s dose of the medication, appropriately labeled (student’s name, medication name, dose, what it is for, when it is to be taken) to school.

• Students are not allowed to carry bottles of medication containing more than one school day’s dose.

• Students are also not allowed to share medication at school.

• Law requires a nurse to have an order from a physician in order to administer medication. School nurses may not administer medications at school outside the rules already discussed. This applies even to over-the-counter medications such as Tylenol.

• It is important for students and parents to plan ahead when medication at school is anticipated. For example, arranging medication needs in advance, for conditions such as migraine headaches and asthma, will help the school nurse keep students safe and comfortable at school.