Communicable Diseases

The Norris School District maintains and promotes wellness in our schools and community by ensuring a healthy and safe learning environment for students to grow and for employees to work through preventing and diminishing the spread of communicable diseases.

As the Norris School District team, we adhere to the strict guidelines and recommendations set forth by the Department of Public Health and Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) related to identification, reporting, treatment and prevention of communicable diseases.

When there is good reason to believe a student has a contagious or infectious disease, the parent/guardian will be contacted and the student sent home. The student may return to school when well and/or released by a physician.

To promote the health and safety of our students, the District will send a notification letter to classes when the school has been notified that there are two or more confirmed cases of the same communicable disease within that classroom or group, or as directed by public health officials.

It is not always easy to know when to send your child to school. These guidelines are based on public health science. If you have any questions about them, please reach out to your district nurse. Please do not send a child with the following symptoms to school:

• Fever of 100.4°F or more, taken orally. Students may return to school if fever-free for 24 hours, without the help of acetaminophen (e.g., Tylenol) or ibuprofen (e.g., Motrin, Advil).
• Cough and difficulty breathing — do not send your child to school with difficulty breathing, rapid breathing at rest, blue color to skin, or audible wheezing.
• Rash that is undiagnosed — will need a physician's clearance to come back to school.
• Diarrhea — Students need to be symptom free for 24 hours in order to return to school.
• Vomiting — Any student that has been vomiting should be able to hold down a meal and be symptom free for 24 hours.
• Antibiotics — Children who are placed on antibiotics for impetigo, pink eye, strep throat, and several other bacterial infections should be on them for a FULL 24 hours.
• Head Lice — If a student is found with active, adult head lice, the parent/guardian will be notified. The student shall be checked upon return to school the next day and allowed to remain in school if no active head lice are detected.

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