Rochester Public Schools -

If your child becomes ill at school they need to be seen through the school's health office. Health Services staff will contact the parent/caregiver to report symptoms of illness and determine a plan for the student to go home.

If staff are unable to reach parents and determine that the student must go home, emergency contacts will then be called. It is important for parents to periodically review and update emergency contacts to ensure someone is available during the day. Your student will not be allowed to leave school without parent/caregiver permission and school notification.

When a student is sick, parents often wonder whether or not to keep a child at home from school.

Staying home and resting will help the body fight the sickness and is one of the best ways to keep others from becoming ill.

This form needs to be completed by your child's physician. It gives Rochester Public Schools Student Nutrition Services direction on appropriate meal substitutions for a student's special diet (e.g., food allergies that result in severe, life-threatening (anaphylactic) reactions). 

Only complete if your student will be eating school-provided meals:

Anyone can get head lice. Although they are a nuisance, head lice do not transmit disease. Head lice are most often spread through head-to-head contact. School transmission is rare. Some common symptoms of head lice include itching and scratching of the scalp and neck, feeling that something is ‘crawling’ in the hair, sores from constant scratching, and seeing lice on the scalp or nits attached to the hair shaft. If your child has any of these symptoms, please check your student’s head for lice. 

Should your student be found to have live lice in their hair during the school day, a parent/caregiver will be contacted by a health office staff member. The students may remain in school until the end of the school day and return to school after the first application of treatment has been completed per directions sent home with the student.

*Provided by Olmsted County Public Health Service

It is often difficult to decide whether it is necessary to keep your student home. Staying home when sick may decrease the spread of illness to others at school. Students with the symptoms listed below should be excluded from school until symptoms improve or a health care provider has determined the student can return. It is the responsibility of the parent/caregiver to notify the child's school of symptoms of illness or changes in the student's health status. 

Reasons why students should stay at home:

• Severe colds, coughs, or sore throats that prohibit the child from participating in routine school activities

• New skin rashes, especially when draining— unless the medical opinion states rash is not contagious

• Temperature of 100º or more with behavior changes, stiff neck, difficulty breathing, rash, sore throat, or other symptoms of illness that prohibits the student from participating in routine school activities

• Vomiting and diarrhea

• Any other sign of acute illness

• Until the results of laboratory tests (e.g., throat culture, nasal swab) are known

Students may return to school when:

• Symptoms are getting better overall, and

• The student does not have a fever (and is not using fever-reducing medication for 24 hours).

When students return to normal activities, take added precautions over the next five days, such as taking additional steps for cleaner air, hygiene, masks, physical distancing, and/or testing when you will be around other people indoors.

• Keep in mind that you may still be able to spread the virus that made you sick, even if you are feeling better. You are likely to be less contagious at this time, depending on factors like how long you were sick or how sick you were.

• If you develop a fever or you start to feel worse after you have gone back to normal activities, stay home and away from others again until, for at least 24 hours, both are true: your symptoms are improving overall, and you have not had a fever (and are not using fever-reducing medication). Then, take added precautions for the next five days.

- Information provided by the CDC