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    The control of communicable ("catching") disease during the school year is a difficult problem and a grave responsibility. The first responsibility must fall upon the home as parents know the normal appearance of their children and should be the first to detect signs of illness. The symptoms of a cold are also the symptoms of the communicable diseases.

     

    A number of students and staff have lowered resistance to infection and unnecessary exposure to a contagious illness at school puts them at particular risk. 

     

    The following rules will help control communicable diseases in the community. Please keep this sheet at a convenient location for reference.

     

    1.       Do not send your child if he/she shows signs of illness. 

    2.       Do not send a sick child to school for the nurse to decide whether   

              he/she should be in school. If in doubt, call the family physician. 

    3.       If your child is sick, keep other children away from him/her. 

    4.       Some of the signs and symptoms of acute illness are:

                       Fever (100.1 F. or more) or . . .

                       Restlessness at night                              Diarrhea        

                       Earache                                                Red, watering eyes

                       Running nose                                        Flushed face or paleness

                       Sneezing and coughing                           Headache

                       Rash                                                    Swelling neck or face

                        Nausea or vomiting  

     

    KEEP HIM/HER HOME UNTIL TEMPERATURE HAS BEEN NORMAL ONE WHOLE DAY, and they are feeling well, before returning to school. Parents need to decide when the child is ready to return based on the above guidelines.  

     

    Normal temperature is about 98.6 F. Take temperature at mid‑afternoon each day if you suspect it is above normal. Continue this process until temperature is normal a whole day, then the child can return to school if no other symptoms of illness are present. It is not unusual for a child to feel well upon awakening the next day of an illness, but begin to feel unwell as the day progresses. Fevers often will return and peak in the afternoon.

     

    Any child with an undiagnosed rash should remain out of school until all symptoms are gone or a physician verifies the child is not contagious and is well enough to return to school.

     

    If every parent follows these procedures, it will save much suffering and the spread of contagious diseases, some of which may be life‑threatening.