Report an Absence

Students must stay home if they have any illness that prevents the child from participating comfortably in school activities or require more care than the school can provide without compromising the health and safety of other children.

When to Stay Home

Students must stay home if they currently have one or more of the following symptoms:

• Fever of 100 degrees or higher during the previous 24 hours
• Difficulty breathing or a persistent cough
• Three or more loose stools or stool that contains blood or mucus
• Vomiting two or more times during the previous 24 hours, unless the vomiting is caused by a non-communicable condition (such as a sensitive gag reflex) and there is no danger of dehydration
• Mouth sores that cause excessive drooling
• Rash with fever until a physician has determined the illness is not a communicable disease
• Eye infections (conjunctivitis or pink eye with drainage) until examined by a physician and determined not to be communicable or until after twenty-four hours of antibiotic treatment
• Decreased activity level or excessive tiredness
• Irritability or persistent crying

How to Report an Absence

To report an absence, please call the attendance line of the student’s school (below) and provide:

1. The student’s name
2. The student’s teacher (if elementary)
3. The reason for missing school
4. Indicate if the student has any of the following symptoms:
   • Cough
   • Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
   • Fatigue
   • Muscle or body aches
   • Headache
   • The recent loss of taste or smell
   • Sore throat
   • Congestion or runny nose
   • Nausea or vomiting
   • Diarrhea
   • Fever

Guidance

Viral infections, which usually do not need any antibiotic treatments, are contagious until after a certain period of time:

• COVID is contagious up to 10 days following the onset of symptoms
• Chickenpox is contagious until all of the lesions have dried and are crusted over (usually six or seven days after the infection began)
• Hepatitis A is contagious until at least one week after the infection and jaundice began

With many bacterial infections or other health concerns, it is safe to go back to school after appropriate treatments, including:

• Twenty four hours of antibiotic therapy for strep throat or impetigo
• A single treatment for scabies and head lice
• Five days of antibiotics for pertussis infections

Other infections that may necessitate prolonged exclusion from school include:

• Tuberculosis (until properly treated and the health department confirms that they are no longer contagious)
• Measles, mumps, pertussis
• E. coli and shigella infections (until diarrhea resolves and two stool cultures don’t show infection)

Children do not need to be excluded from school if they have:

• A mild upper respiratory tract infection, even if associated with green or yellow nasal discharge, unless the child has a fever or any other symptoms described above
• Fifth disease (parvovirus B19 infection) as they are no longer contagious after the rash appears
• Warts or ringworm (infected area must be covered with a bandage while in school)