It can be difficult for a parent or guardian to decide whether to send children to school when they wake up with symptoms of an illness or complaints that they do not feel well. Regular school attendance is the key to a student’s success. However, there are times when students will benefit from staying at home, giving them time to recover while helping prevent the spread of colds, COVID, influenza, stomach bugs and other contagious diseases.
If your child develops a fever, vomiting or diarrhea, please do not send them to school. Students should be free of fever, vomiting or diarrhea for at least 24 hours before returning to class. This guideline means the symptoms are resolved without using over-the-counter medications (Tylenol or Ibuprofen) to suppress them.
Your child should also be kept home from school when an illness has made them too sleepy to attend classes, when they have an uncontrolled runny nose, or when they have a cough that makes them uncomfortable or will frequently disrupt their class.
To help protect all students, please remind your child(ren) to:
- Wash their hands often with soap and water for 20 seconds.
- Avoid touching their eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands.
- Avoid kissing, hugging and sharing cups or eating utensils with people who are sick.
- Coughing or sneezing into their elbow.
Washing hands with soap and water is the best method for cleaning hands. If soap and water are unavailable, alcohol-based hand sanitizers may be used.
We want to assure you that we are doing everything in school to prevent the spread of illnesses. District staff is reminding students to cover their mouths when coughing and sneezing, throw their tissues in a trash can, wash their hands, and not share any personal items. Areas that students touch frequently will be given additional attention from our cleaning staff. COVID tests are available in the health office upon request as well as other PPE such as masks.
For questions contact:
Sarah O’Leary FNP-BC, MSN, RN
soleary@voorheesville.org
518-765-2382 Ext 506
Additional information regarding COVID, influenza, and contagious illness guidelines is available on our Health and Wellness page and the following websites:
https://www.albanycounty.com/departments/health/coronavirus-covid-19
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/your-health/if-you-were-exposed.html
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/index.htm
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/symptoms/coldflu.htm
https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/handwashing-school.html