To protect all children from communicable illnesses, students infected with certain diseases are not allowed to come to school while they are contagious.

Students should be symptom-free for 24 hours before returning to school. Contact the school nurse or campus office if you are unsure whether or not your child should return to school.

1. A student with any of the following symptoms will be excluded from school until such time as the student is free of symptoms, has been satisfactorily treated or submits a signed physician’s statement that he/she is not contagious.

• Temperature of 100.2 degrees or more. The student must be fever free for 24 hours without the aid of fever reducing medication before returning to school;

• Signs or symptoms of acute illness, serious accident/injury;

• Undetermined rash over any part of the body accompanied by fever;

• Asthma symptoms that do not respond to prescribed medication or no prescribed medication is available at school for treatment of asthma symptoms;

• Nausea and vomiting. Vomiting (not related to a single event such as gagging, positioning, mucus, running after eating or eating spicy foods). Student must be symptom free for 24 hours without medication before returning to school;

• Diarrhea of two or more loose watery stools. Student should be diarrhea free for 24 hours without the use of diarrhea suppressing medication before returning to school;

• Pink eye or purulent conjunctivitis (defined as pink or red conjunctiva with white or yellow eye discharge). Not all conjunctivitis is contagious. The student must receive medical treatment before returning to school or provide a note from a health care provider stating that the condition is not contagious and the student may return to school;

• Intense itching with signs and symptoms of secondary infection;

• Live head lice or nits closer than 1⁄4” inch from the scalp. The student is able to return to school as soon as possible after treatment with a lice treatment shampoo is used and the school nurse or other school personnel has verified that student does not have live lice or that nits are not closer than 1⁄4” from the scalp;

• If child has had chickenpox, then exclusion is until after lesions become dry and until 24 hours have passed with no new lesions;

• If child has had mumps, then exclusion is until five days after the onset of swelling;

• Ringworm does not require exclusion if the infected area can be completely covered by clothing/bandage; otherwise, students must be excluded until treatment has begun;

2. If a student becomes ill during the school day, he/she must be seen by the school nurse or campus office personnel. If it is determined that the student needs to leave campus due to illness or injury, the parent/guardian will be called. Students are not permitted to call from a classroom or their cell phones.
3. It is the responsibility of the parent or guardian to transport the student from school to his/her home. The parent/guardian must come into the campus office to sign the student out. The person picking up the student must be listed as a guardian or emergency contact.
4. For readmission, some diseases may require a statement from the student’s physician affirming that the student is not contagious.

For more information: Texas Administrative Code, Title 25 Health Services, Chapter 97 - Communicable Diseases Texas DSHS Notifiable Conditions 

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