Health Services

Swanton Local School District | Health Services

Here are some guidelines to help you decide whether your child should stay home:

If you do question whether to send a child to school, please call the office and ask to speak to the nurse.

• Colds – if your child has uncontrollable coughing or seems very tired and needs bed rest, keep him at home as this will interfere with his performance at school.
• Diarrhea – Keep your child home until the illness resolves. Your child may return to school if it has been 24 hours since the last episode of diarrhea.
• Fever – Keep your child home if their temp is 100F or greater. Have them rest and drink plenty of fluids.Your child should be fever free for at least 24 hours (without medicine) before going back to school.
• Strep Throat – your child can return to school after 24 hours of antibiotics and if they are have a fever less than 100F for 24 hours.
• Vomiting – your child may return to school 24 hours after the last episode of vomiting.
• Conjunctivitis (pink-eye) – Pink eye is highly contagious and is caused most often by a virus. Your child may return to school after 24 hours of medication. If your child has yellow or green drainage from his eyes, you should consult your physician.
• Lice – your child may return to school after treating with a lice-killing hair product, ridding the hair of live lice and nits.
• Impetigo – your child may return to school after 24 hours of treatment.
• Rashes – your child’s physician should be consulted before returning to school with a suspicious rash.

New Immunization Requirements

Schools have new immunization requirements as of 2010-2011 school year from the Ohio Department of Health (ODH). As you may remember, the Ohio Revised Code (ORC) 3313.67 and 3313.671 indicate that schools are responsible for ensuring that students who enroll in school have immunizations required by ODH. The statute also states that schools are to keep records of the immunizations.

The requirements do not include new immunizations; rather, the schedule for when students receive them has been changed. Please integrate the new requirements into your Fall enrollment information and prepare to share this information with families. The changes in requirements are:

• The addition of a diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (Tdap) booster for seventh-grade students;
• The addition of a second dose of varicella (a progressive requirement starting with kindergarten for 2010); and
• The fourth dose of polio being administered on or after the fourth birthday.

The most significant change is the Tdap booster for seventh-grade students, because currently only 30 percent of these students have received this inoculation. For more information, call the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) Immunization Program hotline at (800) 282-0546. Further information, including a summary of all required immunizations, can be found on the ODH Web site.

Confidentiality Statement

Please be assured that your child’s health information will be kept in the strictest confidence in accordance with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). Health information is only shared with staff members directly involved in your child’s education who may need to know this information to maintain his/her health and safety.

Promoting and supporting children’s health so they can achieve academic success is our goal. If ever you have a question, please call us, we would be happy to assist you.