The Health Services Program provides students with health screenings for vision, hearing, dental, height, weight, blood pressure, and head lice. The school nurse will also examine, treat, and direct the care for your child in the event of illness, injury, or emergency. The disclosure of confidential health information within the school is limited to information to serve the student’s health and education interests. Your child’s health history is important for us to provide the best care at school. If there is a new or existing health condition that affects a student’s ability to participate in school activities, it is the responsibility of the parent/guardian to notify the school. The nurse may need to contact you if your child needs an emergency action plan in place to be safe at school.

Parents/guardian should make the school aware of any illness or injury a child might have. If a student becomes too ill to remain in class, we will reach you by phone and ask that you come to school and pick up your child. This is why it is so important that we have an emergency phone number on the up-date sheet and health inventory. According to Lakeland R-III Board Policy, no student may attend school while infected by a suspected contagious disease or while liable to transmit such disease after having been exposed to it. The school may request a student suspected of having a disease, or being able to transmit a disease, to be examined by the school nurse or a physician, and to be provided a written statement of health before the student returns to school.

Communicable Diseases Requiring Exclusion From School:

• Chicken Pox - 7 days after appearance of skin eruption or longer if not dry scabbed

• German Measles (Rubella) - 5 days after appearance of rash

• Impetigo - Until lesions are healed or documented under doctor’s treatment

• Measles - During cold symptoms & 7 days after appearance of rash

• Mumps - 9 days following onset of swelling

• Scabies - Doctor’s note stating student under treatment

• Red or Inflamed Eyes - Doctor’s note stating student under treatment or until eye is clear

• Rashes - Must be excluded until student brings doctor’s note stating diagnosis and that the student may attend school or until rash is clear

• Strep Throat - On antibiotic 24 hours before returning to school

• Vomiting/Diarrhea that may be associated with a communicable disease

• Fever - In many illnesses where body temperature is elevated to 100 degrees or above, the child should remain home until the temperature has been normal (98.6 degrees) for 24 hours. Parents will be notified when a child at school is found to have a temperature of 100 degrees or above.

Nurse’s Office Hours: Lakeland R-III School District has a school nurse on a full-time basis Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. Please contact her at 644-2223 ext. 106 with health questions or concerns. A current health inventory must be on file in the nurse’s office before the school nurse can administer any medication or use any medications to your child.

Immunizations: Proof of current immunizations, or the parents’/guardians’ written objection to the immunization of a student, must be furnished to the school before students will be allowed to attend school. Failure to comply with this regulation will result in the student being excluded from school attendance.

Head Lice: Lakeland R-III follows a No Nit Policy. Periodic head lice checks for all students will be conducted throughout the school year. Students with head lice or nits will be sent home with a letter and instructions concerning treatment procedures. To properly rid the home of the head lice, a thorough cleaning of the environment (vehicle, carpet, pillows, furniture, etc.) as well as the child’s hair must be done. Sometimes it may include treating everyone in the household. Parents/guardians are expected to provide transportation for their child who has been identified to have live lice or nits. Students who are checked at school and sent home because of live head lice or nits should be treated as directed and then checked at the County Health Office, by their family doctor, or by the school nurse. Students will not be readmitted to school without a note stating the student is free of head lice and nits from the Health Department, doctor, or by being checked by the school nurse. An adult must bring the student to the school with the note stating the student has no lice or nits, or to be checked by the school nurse, before the student will be readmitted to school. Adults should wait with the student to make sure the student will be readmitted, before leaving the school. Students, who do not return to school after 3 days, will be reported to the proper authorities.

VARNISH PROGRAM: A preventive dental program is available through the district and the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. A licensed dental professional will screen your child’s teeth, and a trained volunteer will apply a thin protective coating of fluoride varnish to your child’s teeth as a preventive measure approximately four to six-months apart. Fluoride varnish has been proven to be effective in preventing, reducing, and stopping small areas of early tooth decay. More information on the varnish program will be in the students’ packets that they take home.

Recess/Illness: If you do not want your child to participate in outside recess because of illness, please send a note each day you want them to stay in. Longer periods of time require a note from a medical agency.

Medication Policy: Physician/Nurse Practitioner orders are required for all prescription drugs. These orders may be documented on the school permission form available in the office, by fax from the physician/nurse practitioner’s office to the school nurse, or by a note from the physician/nurse practitioner.

Over-the-counter medication may only be administered with parental permission. A completed health history form and a list of specific over-the-counter medications must be on file before any medication may be administered. Consecutive daily use of any over-the-counter medications will be monitored by the school nurse. Any use of medication that might mask a health problem, or send the wrong message to students regarding drug use, will be discouraged. Any student requiring more than 5 or 6 over the counter medications in a month will be referred to his personal care provider for evaluation.

All medication for students must be brought to school in the original container. Duplicate bottles may be requested from your pharmacy at no charge. The district requests that only sufficient medication for administration during school hours be brought to school. Medication should be scheduled so as many doses as possible are given at home (i.e. three times daily: before school, after school, bedtime). All medications provided by the parent/guardian must be picked up by the last day of school. Any unused, discontinued, or outdated mediations will be returned or destroyed at the end of the school year.

All prescription and over-the-counter medications that are approved for administration are to be kept in the nurse’s office or in the building office. Medication will be administered with adult supervision only. The parent/guardian needs to notify the school when a student brings a medication in as to what the medication is for. If a student needs to bring medicine to school, the student must give the medicine to the bus driver as they enter the bus. The bus driver will then give it to the bus monitor. If your child has been seen by a physician as to pink eye, strep throat etc, and is not taking a medication at school, please notify the school for our records and the well being of the other students.

Accident Reports: Any accident that occurs at school should be reported to the teacher or office so proper procedures can be applied. This includes first aid, as well as filling out an accident report, and the parent/guardian will be notified of what happened. If emergency medical attention is needed, and the school is unable to locate the parent/guardian, an ambulance will be called to take the student to the emergency room.