Schools

Home or school? Here's a guide

This cheat sheet will help parents avoid guesswork.

By PAULETTE LASH RITCHIE, Times Correspondent
Published August 30, 2007

BROOKSVILLE - It was the first day of the new school year, and already students were camped out in the clinics at some schools.

Local officials have advice for parents who may not know when a child is too sick to send to school.

Barbara Smith, coordinator of student services for the Hernando County School District, and Ann Faith, RN, nursing supervisor of school health for the Health Department, say that if a child has had any of these symptoms, keep him or her home:

- Vomiting more than once in the past 24 hours.

- Diarrhea more than twice in the past 24 hours.

- Fever greater than 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the past 24 hours.

- Asthma symptoms that don't improve with treatment.

- Severe cold or flu with continuous coughing and sneezing.

"Unless they have symptoms such as these," Smith said, "we don't want to keep them home."

If a child is home because of illness, Smith and Faith suggest that parents:

- Provide plenty of fluids.

- Let the child rest.

- Avoid milk or juice products.

- Treat the fever with over-the-counter medications that are appropriate for the child's age and weight.

- Contact the child's pediatrician for further instructions.

Hernando schools are equipped with clinics that are staffed with trained school health professionals. Eight licensed practical nurses and two registered nurses also work in the school system. The registered nurses travel among Deltona and Moton elementary schools, West Hernando Middle School and Central High School, schools that serve students who have special medical needs.

Smith and Faith said parents can expect students to be screened for health issues in kindergarten and first, third and sixth grades.

Kindergarteners receive vision and hearing screening; first-graders get vision, hearing, height, weight and body mass index screenings; third-graders are screened for vision, height, weight and body mass index; and sixth-graders receive all of the above and scoliosis screening.

School clinic workers send letters to parents if children fail screenings. Health Department officials send letters home if children exceed the body mass index or are underweight.

Faith had one last reminder to parents: "We don't give out any medications without a doctor's order,and we send them home with a greater-than-100-degree-Fahrenheit temperature."

[Last modified August 29, 2007, 20:31:55]