Families of Longfellow Elementary-
As many of you are experiencing, the crud has been going around. Strep, RSV, the Flu and a host of other things all make their appearance from time to time. As a parent, the balance of when to send them to school is tough. A cough and sniffles hit most folks this time of year. We may not feel the best, but it’s still ok to go about our day. The time to keep your kid home is if they’ve recently vomited, had diarrhea or have a fever of 100.4 degrees or greater. Kids diagnosed with strep are able to return to school 24 hours after they’ve started antibiotics if they are fever free. With Flu and RSV, it’s ok to send them 24 hours after the fever, vomiting, and diarrhea have stopped (without the use of fever-reducing medications).
Underneath all of this, regardless of why a student is out, they are deemed chronically absent if they’ve missed 10% of the year or more. At this point in the year, that equates to 10 days. We’ve seen an increase in students on the federal chronic absentee report this year for a whole host of reasons. I know life happens and it can be a tough battle to wage. In this, it is important to consider the implications of absence from school. Poor attendance can influence whether students are reading proficiently by the end of 3rd grade. By 6th grade, poor attendance becomes a leading indicator of drop out rates. All that said, when attendance improves, so do academics and prospects for graduating. If the morning hits and your student is complaining about not feeling well, and lacks the fever, diarrhea, or vomiting, start your day by bringing them into the office. Nurse Tanner can help.
Working together, we can help establish healthy habits and the simple life lesson, “half of life is just showing up”. One thing we can all agree on is that we want our kids to be healthy, to learn, and to grow.
Thank you,
Cory Scheffel
P.S.- On the heels of writing this, one of my little friends puked on the sidewalk before school. Clear communication. The parent looked at me and said, “They’ll be staying home today.” 🙂