When To Keep Your Child Home

To maintain a healthy learning environment for everyone, students who are ill should remain home, with proper supervision.

Students May Return To School If The Following Are True About The Illness:

  • Fever (100.4 or above) has been gone for 24 hours, without the aid of fever-reducing medication (such as Tylenol, Acetaminophen, Advil, Motrin, Ibuprofen, Aleve, or Naproxen)
  • Vomiting has been gone for 24 hours
  • Diarrhea has been gone for 24 hours
  • Antibiotics for contagious illnesses, such as strep throat and conjunctivitis (pink eye), prescribed by a healthcare provider, have been used for a full 24 hours.
  • The student is feeling better.
  • Keep in mind: if your child does not have any of the symptoms above but, for example, is fatigued from illness and unable to stay awake in class, coughing so much that it interferes with the ability to learn in the classroom, or has considerable nasal discharge and is unable to manage it, you may receive a call from the Nurse to retrieve your child.

Viral Illness (such as COVID, Flu)

  • Symptoms of COVID, the Flu, or other viral illness may include headaches, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, nausea, body aches, chills, fever, or fatigue.
  • Specific viral testing is not required to determine if your child should stay home. Students may return to school if the following are true:
    • Fever (100.4 or above) has been gone for 24 hours, without the aid of fever-reducing medication (such as Tylenol, Acetaminophen, Advil, Motrin, Ibuprofen, Aleve, or Naproxen)
    • Vomiting has been gone for 24 hours
    • Diarrhea has been gone for 24 hours
    • The student is feeling better.
  • Specific questions about viral testing, or concerns about specific illnesses, should be directed to your child’s primary care provider.
  • Face masks are recommended for 10 days for COVID related illness.
  • Rest, sleep, hydration and sometimes medications such as Acetaminophen (Tylenol) or Ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) will help with symptoms of viral illnesses. Children should get at least 8-10 hours of sleep each night and may require more when ill.
  • Proper hand washing has been proven to be effective at preventing or limiting the spread of illness and infection. Information is readily available on-line about proper hand washing procedures.

Conjunctivitis (Pink Eye)

  • Red eyes can be a sign of conjunctivitis (pink eye), especially when associated with drainage, crustiness, itching or pain. Pink eye can be caused by either a virus or bacteria and is very contagious.
  • Students must be cleared to return by a healthcare provider and must be on antibiotics for a full 24 hours, if prescribed by the healthcare provider.

Rashes/Open Sores

  • Students with any type of weeping rashes or open sores must be cleared to return by a health care provider.
  • All open sores and weeping rashes must be covered until healed.  For rashes near the mouth area, please use a facemask to cover the afflicted areas.

Head Lice (Pediculosis)

  • Head Lice are contagious, annoying, and sometimes hard to get rid of quickly, but they aren’t dangerous, and they don’t spread disease.  Lice are tiny, wingless insects that can attach to a person’s hair/scalp where they feed on tiny amounts of blood drawn from the scalp.  When lice start living in hair, they also start to lay eggs (nits).  Lice can survive up to 30 days on a person’s head and can lay eight nits a day.  If you suspect that your child/children may have head lice, be sure to inspect their heads (scalp and hair) before sending them to school.  If lice or nits are found, student(s) must receive effective treatment before returning to school.
Symptoms
  • Itching of the scalp
  • Nits (Lice eggs)- they look like small oval blobs that stick on strands of hair & can be clear, white, yellow, tan, or brown
  • Lice- gray or reddish-brown tiny insects on the hair shaft that may look like sesame seeds
  • Small red/pink bumps on the scalp- this is from the lice biting the scalp
  • A rash on the scalp, with crusting and oozing (if severe)
  • Possibly swollen lymph glands in the neck
Spread & Prevention
  • Lice cannot jump or fly. They spread when people’s heads touch or when they share hats and other clothing, combs, brushes, headbands, barrettes, and bedding (like sheets, blankets, pillowcases, and sleeping bags). If lice are stuck on any of these things, and that thing touches another person’s head, that person may also get lice.  Because lice are parasites, they will set up house on anyone’s head.  Anyone who says that people who get lice are dirty doesn’t know that lice love everyone and that includes the cleanest kid in the class! Lice spread in classrooms and schools because kids play together closely and often share more stuff than adults do. Teach your kids to avoid behaviors that could spread lice!
Treatment
  • Use a medicated rinse or lotion to kill the lice; your doctor or pharmacist can recommend one. If you don’t use a product that kills the nits too, additional treatments may be necessary. It’s important to follow the label directions exactly because applying too much or too often can be harmful.  Some people prefer to go to a lice treatment center for assistance; these centers cost more but guarantee results.
  • Check everyone in the house for lice and get treatment if necessary.
  • Wash all bed linens and clothing in very hot water, then put them in the hot cycle of the dryer for at least 20 minutes. Dry clean any clothing, bed linens, and stuffed animals that aren’t machine washable. If you can’t wash or dry clean items, seal them tightly in a plastic bag and store them for two weeks.
  • Vacuum carpets and any cloth-covered furniture in your home or car.
  • Discard hair-care items or soak them in rubbing alcohol for 1 hour, then wash them in hot soapy water.
  • While not necessary, you can remove nits from hair with a fine-tooth comb.
Attending School
  • Students are not required to have an early dismissal if lice/nits are detected at school, but most parents choose early dismissal to get treatment of the student(s) and home started as soon as possible. Students are required to be treated before returning to school.  Per DE State Regulations, classroom wide lice checks will not be done, and classroom wide notifications will not be sent when lice cases are reported.
Please call your healthcare provider with any questions or concerns. For your reference, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has helpful information about head lice:
Learn More

Excused Absences

Excused absences for medically related reasons, according to FSMA’s Family Handbook, include those listed below for which the required documentation has been submitted:
  • Illness of a child.
  • Scheduled appointments to a physical or mental healthcare provider, including a physician, dentist, orthodontist, or psychologist.
  • Contagious diseases within the home of a student subject to the regulations of the Division of Public Health and Department of Health and Social Services.
  • Medical diagnosis and/or treatment.
Documentation of the absence (regardless of how many days a student is absent) must be provided to the Main Office upon the student’s return to school and no later than the five school days after the absence. The documentation must be a written note or email (mainoffice.fsma@fsma.k12.de.us) from a parent/guardian or a doctor’s office. The absence will be unexcused until the documentation is received by the school.

Injuries During the School Year

If your child experiences an injury during the school year which requires the use of crutches, braces, casting, or other means of limiting movement of the body, a doctor’s note will need to be provided to the Nurse upon return to school. This information will be shared with the primary teachers, as well as any necessary staff, to maintain the child’s safety. In order to return to regular activity in PE and at recess, a clearance letter must be provided to the Nurse.

Elevator Use

  • Use of the Elevator is limited to students who have a letter from their doctor or qualified healthcare provider.
  • The letter must indicate that the use of the elevator is necessary, the reason for use, the length of time the student will be expected to use the elevator and the physician/healthcare provider’s name and contact information.
  • This letter must be delivered to the Nurse who will provide access to the elevator.
  • Students who use the elevator without permission will be considered as “unauthorized presence in any school area” and the Family Handbook will be followed.

Concussions

  • If your child is diagnosed with a concussion during the school year, a letter from the treating doctor will need to be provided to the Nurse. This letter should contain any restrictions or limitations that are to be followed at school. Once your child is cleared by a doctor, a clearance letter must be provided to the Nurse to lift any restrictions or limitations for a student who has been diagnosed with a concussion.