The following are guidelines to ensure a healthy learning environment where each student’s potential to learn and grow is maximized.

Please keep your child home if any of the following occurs:

• Temperature of 100 degrees or higher within the last 24 hours     
  • A student must be fever-free for 24 hours, without the use of medication to mask the symptoms.
• Vomiting or diarrhea within the last 24 hours
• Rash of unknown cause
• Persistent cough, runny nose, congestion, fatigue, or body aches  (not related to allergies)
• Redness, itching, or discharge from eyes  (not related to allergies)
• Students with Strep Throat need to be treated with antibiotics for 24 hours before returning to school.
• Weeping cold sores or other lesions (such as Impetigo) until under treatment

Why:

• To protect your child from exposure to other illness before he/she is able to build resistance.
• To protect other students and staff from a communicable disease that your child may transmit.

REMEMBER hand-washing is the most effective means of protecting the spread of communicable diseases.  Remind your children to wash their hands frequently and cover their nose and mouths when coughing and sneezing.  Enclose hand wipes in your child’s backpack and lunch box to ensure cleaner hands throughout the school day!

BREAKFAST – Don’t leave without it!

Many students come to school without eating breakfast.  If they are hungry they may feel light-headed, dizzy, restless, or inattentive.  They may complain of a headache or stomachache.  Their ability to learn will be impaired.  Please encourage your child to eat a nutritious food and beverage before leaving for school.  If students are unable to eat breakfast at home, please encourage them to buy breakfast in the school cafeteria!

Keeping Children Safe from the Flu
You keep your child warm in the winter. And you make sure he or she eats well every day. So, keep your child safe from the flu, too. Get your child’s flu shot every fall or winter.

How does the flu spread?
People who have the flu usually cough, sneeze, and have a runny nose. The droplets in a cough, sneeze or runny nose contain the flu virus. Other people can get the flu by breathing in these droplets or by getting them in their nose or mouth.

How long can a sick person spread the flu to others?
Most healthy adults may be able to spread the flu from one day before getting sick to up to 5 days after getting sick. This can be longer in children and in people who don’t fight disease as well (people with weaker immune systems).

What should I use to clean hands?
Wash your children’s hands with soap and water. Clean them for as long as it takes to sing the “Happy Birthday” song twice. If soap and water are not handy, use wipes or gels with alcohol in them. The gels should be rubbed into hands until the hands are dry.

What can I do if my child gets sick?
Make sure your child gets plenty of rest and drinks lots of fluids. Talk with your child’s doctor before giving your child over-the-counter medicine. If your children or teenagers may have the flu, never give them aspirin, or medicine that has aspirin in it. It could cause serious problems.

Can my child go to school/day care with the flu?
No. If your child has the flu, he or she should stay home to rest. This helps avoid giving the flu to other children.

When can my child go back to school/day care after having the flu?
Keep your child home from school/day care until his or her temperature has been normal for 24 hours. Remind your child to protect others by covering his or her mouth when coughing or sneezing. You may want to send your child to school with some tissues, wipes or gels with alcohol in them

For More Information About the Flu Visit:

Influenza Fact Sheet

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Please note, all student injuries must be reported to the nurse’s office.  Students cannot come to school with crutches, wheelchairs, etc…unless they have provided the school nurse with a note from a doctor.

Medical Attention

In order to best meet your child’s health and educational needs in school, please inform the school nurse of any health related issues or current medication.  Please contact the school nurse via phone 845-534-8009 ext. 1010.  
Please provide Cornwall-On-Hudson Elementary School with current phone numbers and emergency numbers.  It is very important that the school be notified of any change in emergency numbers.

Absent From School Due To Illness

Please call the main office (Ext 1000), if your child will be absent from school.  Please notify the Health Office if a serious medical condition has occurred.

Immunizations

All students must provide proof-of-immunization prior to entering or attending school.  Immunizations must be current.  New entrants will be given 14 days to provide a record of immunizations.  If this is not adhered to, students will be considered out-of-compliance and excluded from school until documentation from a Health Care Provider is on file in the Cornwall-on-Hudson Health Office. 
If you need assistance with obtaining immunizations, please call Orange County Health Dept. at 360-6587.

Medication Administration

• It may become necessary for your child to receive medication during the school day.  The following is the procedure for medication administration in the school setting.
  • A written order from your Health Care Provider is required for ALL medication, both prescription and over-the-counter (Ex. Tylenol, Advil).
  • A written request from the parent is required.
  • The medication must be brought to school in the original, labeled container.  Loose medication that is wrapped up will not be administered.
  • Before sending in any medication (i.e. nebulizer ampules, pills, Epi-pens, inhalers, ointments, eye drops etc.) please check the expiration date and make sure that the medication will not expire during the school year. We are unable to administer expired medication.
  • Self-Administration of medication is prohibited in elementary school setting. 
  • The consent form for medication administration in school is current for only ONE SCHOOL YEAR. Parents must provide the health office with a current doctor’s order and parent permission form each September.
  • Parents must pick up all medication or make arrangements to pick up medication by the last day of school.  All remaining medication will be discarded.

All students must provide proof-of-immunization prior to entering or attending school. Immunizations must be current. New entrants will be given 14 days to provide a record of immunizations. If this is not adhered to, students will be considered out-of-compliance and excluded from school until documentation from a Health Care Provider is on file in the COH Health Office. Immunization records can be faxed to the COH Health Office at 845-314-9351 .

If you need assistance with obtaining immunizations, please call Orange County Health Dept. at 845-360-6587.