When to stay home: A guide to student illness
When students are absent from school, whether due to illness, truancy, or other reasons, they fall behind and face challenges in keeping up with their classmates. While children and adolescents may occasionally need to stay home due to sickness, we aim to reduce the number of days your student is absent from school.
How sick is too sick for school?
Reasons for when a parent should keep their child home from school or when they will be sent home from school/SACC.
| Illness/Symptom | Stay Home/Sent Home from School | Go to/Return to School |
|---|---|---|
| Fever* | Temperature of 100.4 F (38 C) or higher | Fever-free** for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication |
| Cold Symptoms: Cough, Runny Nose, Sore Throat | Cold symptoms accompanied by a fever or too sick to participate in regular activities | Fever-free,** well enough to participate in regular activities, and/or has been cleared by a health care provider |
| Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease | Mouth sores and/or skin rash on the palm of the hands and/or soles of the feet accompanied by a fever* without a health care diagnosis | Fever-free,** well enough to participate in regular activities, and/or has been cleared by a health care provider. Blisters must be dried with no drainage |
| Head Lice | Unable to participate in regular activities due to severe itching | Appropriate treatment has begun |
| Impetigo | Lesions or blisters without a health care diagnosis | Fever-free** and after 12 hours of appropriate antibiotic therapy. All sores on exposed skin must be covered |
| Pink Eye | Eye is pink or red with swelling of the eyelids and/or eye discharge without a health care diagnosis | Non-symptomatic or has been cleared to return by a health care provider |
| Ringworm | Itchy, red, scaly, or cracked skin, or ring-shaped rash without a health care diagnosis | Appropriate treatment has begun. All sores on exposed skin must be covered |
| Rash | A rash with blisters that are draining, painful, look like bruises, appear suddenly or spread quickly, and/or if a fever* develops | Rash has healed and/or has been cleared for return by a health care provider |
| Strep Throat | A sore throat or difficulty swallowing with fever* | Fever-free** and after 12 hours of appropriate antibiotic therapy |
| Upset Stomach: Abdominal Pain, Diarrhea, Vomiting | Abdominal pain that continues for more than 2 hours along with fever* or other concerning symptoms, has more than three loose watery stools per day and/or sudden increase in frequency, has vomited 2 or more times in the last 24 hours | Symptom-free for 24 hours, if determined to be caused by a diagnosed non-communicable/non-infectious condition, and/or if stool frequency is no more than two times above normal and without fecal accidents |
*Fever: temperature of 100.4 F (38 C) or higher
** Fever-free: temperature below 100.4 F (38 C) for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medications such as acetaminophen (Tylenol), or ibuprofen.
Students who present with certain medical or physical emergencies shall be excluded from school/School Age Child Care (SACC) for the health and safety of the student and the remaining student population. Student illness and exclusion criteria are outlined in Regulation 757-1 Attachment I, "Student Illness or Exclusion Criteria".
Refer to the Virginia Department of Health Communicable Disease Reference Chart for School and Child Care Facility Personnel (PDF) for additional exclusion and illness information.