The Fayette County School System provides a nurse at each school. The school clinic nurse will assist students who become sick or injured while at school and dispense medications prescribed by physicians. There are several common viruses and illnesses at school that have county-mandated protocols. Here are several:

• Chicken Pox – May return to school after all lesions are scabbed over and dry. Usually 7-8 days after rash appears
• Coxsakie virus (hand, foot and mouth disease) – May return to school after 24 hours fever free and symptom free
• Pink Eye- must be treated with antibiotics and may return to school once treatment is started
• Strep throat- must be treated with antibiotics. May return to school after at least 24 hours of treatment and fever free for 24 hours
• Viral gastroenteritis – May return to school after symptoms are gone for 24 hours

Parents, please remember your child must be fever free, and have not vomited or had diarrhea for at least 24 hours before he or she is sent back to school. This decreases the spread of the bacteria or virus to other students and faculty. Please promote good hand washing with your children. When done correctly, hand washing is the single most effective way to prevent the spread of communicable diseases.

Cold and Flu Season Information

It is important to protect our children from suffering through the dregs of a bad virus. To prepare us, Debbie King, the School Heath Services Coordinator, has some great tips for battling your sickness. There is also a great brochure produced by the CDC, Commonly Asked Questions about the H1N1 Virus in English and Spanish, as well as, a guide produced in conjunction with many school related organizations that lists tips for dealing with the H1N1 Virus.

• H1N1 Virus Brochure – CDC
• Fayette County School Health Department – FCBOE