Health & Safety

Contact the school nurse or office if your child is diagnosed with a concussion. A concussion protocol will be put in place as prescribed by the physician. Student services may need to get involved to decrease your child’s workload until they fully recover. Once diagnosed, please supply the school with a physician's note stating the diagnosis and precautions that are to be enforced. A follow-up note from the physician is required to remove any or all restrictions.

Please notify the nurse or the office if your child is diagnosed with any communicable disease. There are many communicable diseases, but the most common include strep throat, pink eye, COVID-19, influenza, RSV, hand, foot, and mouth disease, whooping cough, lice, Fifth’s disease, and mononucleosis. Notification of the school is a key component to stop the spread of illness in the classroom. A note will be sent to all students in your child’s classroom informing families of a communicable disease. This note is instructional, listing signs and symptoms and providing guidelines on how to treat them and when to return to school. 
 

Contact the school nurse or office if your child has sustained an injury or has surgery that requires restrictions during the school day. The School of St. Mary requires a physician's note listing the diagnosis and limitations. The note should include when the follow-up visit will take place. All restrictions will remain in place until a child presents to the school with a physician's note stating restrictions have been lifted, and the student can return to normal physical activity. A student will not be allowed to resume gym, stair climbing, etc., until cleared by the MD IN WRITING. If necessary, student services may be called upon to rearrange classrooms to avoid stair climbing, etc. 
 

Keep a child home for temperatures over 100 degrees. A child must be fever free without medication for 24 hours before return. 

Keep a child home that has a runny nose, AND a fever, bad cough, headache,  nausea, or is too tired or uncomfortable to function at school. A runny nose with no other symptoms is not necessarily a cause to keep a child at home.

Keep a child at home who has a greenish-colored nasal discharge and/or a chronic cough.

Keep a child home who has had three or more watery stools in a 24-hour period, especially if the child looks or acts ill or has diarrhea due to medication. 

Keep a child at home who has drainage from the ear and/or ear pain.

Keep a child home who has thick mucus, pus, or clear liquid draining from the eye. Extreme redness, irritation, itchiness, or pain, eyelid swelling, and/or light sensitivity may also indicate a contagious condition. 

Children must remain at home until they are treated and are free of lice and nits (eggs). Notify the school nurse if your child has lice. The nurse will give you instructions before you can send your child to school. 

Keep a child at home who has any skin rash of unknown cause, especially a rash accompanied by fever and itching. See your healthcare provider to confirm the rash is not contagious before returning to school. 

Keep a child at home who has a sore throat accompanied by fever and/or swollen glands. A child diagnosed with strep throat may return to school after 12 hours of appropriate treatment if they are fever free (a temperature of less than 100F) and feels well enough. Notify the school nurse if your child is diagnosed with strep throat.

Keep a child home for 24 hours who vomits two or more times; if vomiting occurs during the night, keep the child home the following day. 

Keep a child home who has had a fracture or surgery until they have written approval from the health care provider to return to school AND the child no longer required prescription pain medication for pain management.