When To Keep Your Child Home

Deciding when a child is too sick to go to school can be a difficult decision for parents to make. Please use the guidelines from the health department below to help you. Call your school health room if you need further guidance.

Keep your student home if they:

• Are too sick to participate in normal activities.
• Need a level of care or observation not manageable at school.
• Create an unhealthy or unsafe environment for others.

Your child should stay home if they have one of the following conditions or illnesses:

• Chickenpox (varicella): Keep your child home until all blisters have scabs and no new blisters are forming.
• Diarrhea: Keep your child home until diarrhea can be contained and stool frequency returns to normal. Keep your child home if there is blood or mucus in the stool.
• Fever: Keep your child home until their temperature is below 100.4°F for 24 hours (without fever-reducing medication) and they don’t have behavior changes, sore throat, rash, vomiting, diarrhea, earache, irritability, or confusion.
• Flu, COVID-19, RSV: Keep your child home until symptoms improve and they are fever-free for 24 hours (without medication).
• Measles: Keep your child home until 4 days after rash appeared.
• Mumps: Keep your child home until 5 days after swelling began.
• Ringworm: Keep your child home until treatment is started.
• Scabies: Keep your child home until treatment is started.
• Scarlet fever: Keep your child home until they have taken antibiotics for 24 hours and are fever-free.
• Shingles: Keep your child home until rash can be covered or all lesions have crusted.
• Skin infection: Keep your child home if they have:
  • Draining open wounds that you can’t cover with a waterproof dressing.
  • Mouth sores with drooling.
    May return after symptoms resolve or a healthcare provider evaluates and treats them
• Strep throat: Keep your child home until they have taken antibiotics for 24 hours and are fever-free.
• Vomiting: Keep your child home until they have not vomited for 24 hours, and they can participate in normal activities.
• Whooping cough (pertussis): Keep your child home until they have taken antibiotics for 5 full days.
• Other contagious condition: Check with your child’s school or healthcare provider.

These conditions do not require you to keep your child at home (unless they are too sick to participate in normal activities):

• Bronchitis.
• Cold (without fever).
• Cytomegalovirus (CMV).
• Ear infection.
• Fifth disease.
• Hand, foot, and mouth disease.
• Molluscum contagiosum.
• Mononucleosis.
• Pinkeye (conjunctivitis).
• Pinworm.
• Pneumonia.
• Warts.

Notify the school if your student has any life threatening and/or chronic health condition such as:

• An allergy requiring an EpiPen
• Seizures
• Diabetes
• Asthma, or
• If your student requires a procedure during school hours (e.g. Gtube feeding or catheterization)

Please feel free to contact the health room staff at your child’s school or the district health services department at 253-891-6051 if you have any questions.