When to Keep Child Home from School
Upon occasion, it is necessary for your child to remain home due to an illness. The following guidelines should be followed to determine whether to keep your child home:
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Fever (100 degrees or higher): Children should be fever free, without fever-reducing medication, for 24 hours before returning to school.
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Frequent or Uncontrollable Coughing
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Vomiting/Diarrhea: Children should be free of symptoms for 24 hours before returning to school
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Restless Night Due to Illness: Children should be kept home following a nighttime bout of nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea, and watched for further symptoms.
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Strep Throat/Pink Eye: Children may return 24 hours after the start of antibiotic treatment
Your child should not be sent to school hoping that he or she will feel better after arriving.
Communicable Diseases
Parents often ask about sending their children to schools with a communicable disease. The Pennsylvania Department of Health offers the following guidelines and exclusion periods:
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Pink Eye: Until therapy is initiated as directed by a physician. Eyes should be free from discharge prior to returning.
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Strep Throat: 24 hours after initiation of treatment
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Scarlet fever: 24 hours after initiation of treatment
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Lice: After being treated the student must be checked by the school nurse. Students should be free of live lice and have a reduced number of nits.
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For other conditions (chicken pox, bed bugs, etc.), please refer to the ACHD Guide to Infectious Disease for School.
The Pine Richland School District follows the Allegheny County Health Department Guide to Infectious Diseases For Schools to determine when a child should return to school after an infectious illness. Specific information on strep throat, pink eye, lice, chickenpox and other common infectious illnesses in schools are outlined in the link above.