CLICK HERE FOR THE MORNING REPORT IF YOUR CHILD HAS A FEVER OR ANY SYMPTOMS — THIS FORM WILL AUTOMATICALLY EMAIL TO THE SCHOOL OFFICE STAFF AND HOMEROOM TEACHER! THIS WILL HELP US MAINTAIN DOCUMENTATION FOR EACH CHILD. THANK YOU!

The Hays Catholic Schools Health Guidelines are found here.

1. If your child is sick, keep them home!

2. If there is a household COVID + case, asymptomatic members of the household may come to school. Those who are COVID + are to isolate for 5 days and may return to school after signification resolution of symptoms, be fever-free for 24 hours, and wear a mask for the next 5 days.

3. With the onset of flu and RSV season, we will continue to monitor all illnesses and communicate as needed if there is an epidemic at school.

4. Hand hygiene and school cleaning practices will continue as they are considered best practices in general. 

Please be diligent about good hand-washing and keeping your children home when they feel sick; they must be fever-free for 24 hours WITHOUT the use of fever-reducing medications. Students may return to school once symptoms have significantly improved if there is no fever!

SCHOOL HEALTH POLICY

Students and staff who have a fever of 99.5 degrees or higher with any other symptoms should NOT report to school until they have been fever-free for 24 hours without fever-reducing medications.

• If your child is not feeling well and comes to the office exhibiting multiple symptoms, such as the following, a phone call will be made to the parents/guardians to discuss sending the child home from school to rest and get well:

  • Chills 

  • Body Aches

  • Fatigue 

  • Headache 

  • Sore Throat

  • Congestion/Very Frequent Runny Nose

  • Very Frequent Coughing

  • Shortness of Breath

  • Diarrhea/Stomach Aches

  • New Loss of Taste or Smell

When deciding whether or not to send your child to school, please consider the following guidelines:

• If your child has a fever of 99.5 degrees or higher along with any other symptom, you need to keep your child home. The child must be fever-free (without being on fever-reducing medication) for 24 hours before sending them back to school.

• If your child has vomited or had diarrhea, please keep them home for 24 hours after the last episode has occurred.

• If your child has a very frequent, persistent cough, particularly a congested, wet cough or a croup-sounding cough, please keep them home so as to not spread this to others.

• Colds are contagious during the first 48 hours — if your child has very excessive nasal congestion that persists, please keep your child home.

• If your child develops strep throat, they must be on their antibiotic for at least 24 hours before sending them back.

• If you think your child develops pink eye, they must be on antibiotic eye drops for 24 hours before sending them back.

• If your child contracts head lice, your child may not return to school until they have received treatment and a physician determines that there are no living lice remaining.

• If your child comes down with hand, foot & mouth disease (virus), they must be fever-free for 24 hours AND if they developed the common widespread blisters, blisters must be dried up before sending them back.

• If your child has recently had a bad accident or head injury, it is crucial that your child sees a physician before sending them back to school.

• If your child has an unknown rash, especially accompanied by a fever, please take your child to the doctor before sending them back. Your child may not return to school until they have been fever-free for at least 24 hours.

• A child who has started antibiotics needs to be on the medication for 24 hours before being considered non-contagious and able to return to school.

• Please, please, please keep in mind that it is an extremely long day for a child who is sent to school ill. Remaining at home will help minimize the spread of the infections and viruses in the classroom to students and staff. We appreciate your assistance in keeping Holy Family a healthier environment for all!

The school office staff will first attempt to contact the child’s parent(s) in the event that your child has become ill. Here are some guidelines:

• If your child has a fever of 99.5 degrees or higher, along with any other symptom, we will call you to discuss further steps for your child.

• If the temperature is elevated with 2 more symptoms, the student will be sent home. 

• If your child vomits at school, we will contact parents immediately and they must be picked up from school and stay home for 24 hours since the last episode.

• If your child passes out from dizziness, we will contact parents immediately to further assess the situation.

• If a teacher feels that a child is very ill, i.e. coughing or sniffling persistently, acting dizzy or nauseous, students will be brought up to the office. Office staff will check the child’s temperature — if the child shows a low-grade fever, the office staff will assess the particular situation. If the problems persist, office staff will contact the child’s parents to discuss the next step.

• If a teacher notices that a child has persistent bathroom visits due to diarrhea, or a possible urinary infection, the office staff will be notified and parents will be contacted to discuss the next step.

• After a parent has been contacted and notified that his/her child is ill or in need of your care, please pick your child up as quickly as possible OR make arrangements with an authorized contact person to pick your child up in the event that you are unable to.

• If the office cannot reach the parents/guardians through the phone numbers in our database, the office will begin attempting to reach the two emergency contacts that parents have listed on the child’s paperwork.

• In these cases, it is VERY important that you keep all phone numbers, contact information and emergency contact information updated every school year so that we can have a smoother and more open line of communication with you and your family, particularly in times of medical or emergency situations!

  
  

Because Holy Family does NOT have a school nurse on staff, we highly recommend that students needing antibiotics get on a routine of taking these medications before and/or after school. If a student needs an antibiotic 3 times a day, please schedule the first before school, the second after school, and the last before bed. We occasionally get an overwhelming amount of medications brought in, and many students to care for each day, so it would assist us greatly if we only have to administer medications if absolutely necessary during school.

Policy states that the administration of medication to students by school employees is permitted upon proper authorization by a physician and/or the student’s parent/guardian. Medications are kept in the office under lock and key and administered by school office staff only.

It is the parent/guardian’s responsibility to:

• Complete, sign and return the school Medication Release Form, located in the office and our school website. A separate form is needed per medication, and the form is needed for both prescription and non-prescription medications.

• Have the student’s physician sign the medication form if it is a prescription.

• Bring in any medications in the original container that includes the student’s name, medication name, unit dosage, and instructions. If the medication is a prescription, the pharmacy’s information should be included.

• Specify the exact time a medication should be given if necessary, and make note of any other instructions for the staff to be aware of.

• We also strongly encourage parents/guardians to bring the medications directly to the school office in person so it does not get misplaced in backpacks.

• Be aware that Holy Family does not have a school nurse, therefore office staff will need to be made aware if you have any changes to medications and/or routine. Please call the school if you have any questions, concerns or changes you need to make.

• A medication form is even necessary for administering simple things like Children’s Motrin/Tylenol, ointments for rashes, etc.

• We also strongly encourage you to use sunscreens on your children during the warm summer months before outdoor field trips/field day events.

• Students should bring their own personal lotions, hand-sanitizers and/or chap-sticks if needed during school hours.

  
  

Any pupil entering a Catholic school for the first time in Kansas shall, prior to admission, be required to present to the appropriate school authorities certification from a licensed physician that he/she received, or is in the process of receiving, immunization against poliomyelitis (IPV/OPV), mumps, measles, rubella, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (DTaP), varicella (chicken pox),  Hepatitis A and B, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) and Pneumococcal conjugate (PCV) by such means of immunization as are approved by the Kansas State Board of Health, or in the alternative shall present to the appropriate school authorities:

1. Certification from a licensed physician stating the physical condition of the child to be such that the test and immunization would seriously endanger the student’s life or health, or

2. A written statement signed by one parent or guardian that is an adherent of a religious denomination whose religious teachings are opposed to such test and immunization.

In the event either of these exceptions is claimed, parents must execute and deliver a declaration assuming full responsibility for their children. The declaration must include an agreement on the part of the parents that allows the Catholic school to exclude the non-immunized student from classes in the event a disease for which immunization has been declined is present in the Catholic school and which waives the right to privacy of student and medical records and information for any actual or implied release of protected information which occurs as a result of removal of non-immunized student from classes.

All Kindergarten students and any student new to the state of Kansas through age eight MUST have the following health forms completed:

1.     Child Health Assessment – a form to be completed by the family physician, nurse practitioner or registered nurse certified by the state, stating the health history and present health status of the child.

2.     Kansas Certification Of Immunization (KCI) – a form signed by the child’s physician or the county health department stating the dates of all immunizations.  These include four (4) DPT, three (3) oral polio, and two (2) MMR immunizations.  Hepatitis B vaccination is encouraged.

    

Both of these forms must be completed and submitted to the school office BEFORE school starts.  Parents of students who transfer to Holy Family Elementary School from other schools must complete a release of information form so that health and academic records may be transferred.  A parent/guardian has ninety (90) days from the day the student enrolls in school to comply with the above policy.  If no statement or certification is produced, the student shall not be admitted to classes until the documents are produced.

After a student has completed both physicals and immunizations for preschool and again in kindergarten, the student’s files will be updated with these health forms. Holy Family does not require physicals when entering any other grade level, though we do recommend annual physicals if your child is participating in sports and activities.

Students entering Kinderprep are NOT required to have another physical and immunizations done, as they will complete these the following year when the child is ready for kindergarten.

HFE staff and faculty work together to promote healthy lifestyles for the students. Physical education is offered to the children, and daily breakfast/lunch menus follow the regulations determined by the Kansas Food & Nutrition Program. You can check the school menus each month in the “Breakfast and Lunch Menus” tab.

Choosing healthy snacks means shopping smart. Be cautious of the health claims on food packages. The best way to judge if a food is healthy for your family is to read the ingredients and nutrition information on the food label. Not all packages with “low-fat” in the title are necessarily healthy!

9-5-2-1-0 FOR HEALTH

Kids need….

9 hours of sleep each night!

5 fruits & veggies each day!

2 hours or less of screen time each day!

1 hour of exercise each day!

and 0 sugary drinks!

STUDENT MEDICAL SCREENINGS

Hearing screenings are provided by the FHSU Herndon Hearing and Speech Clinic students under supervision of FHSU professionals each fall. Visual screenings are provided for students by a team of local optometrists each fall.

HELPFUL LINKS

• For more information about headlice, click here.

• For healthy recipes and tips for smart snacking, click here.

• For the most current immunization form for the State of Kansas, click here.

• For the most current Authorization for Emergency Medical care form, click here.

• For information and fun activities about Dental Health for your kids, click here and here.

• For more information on promoting physical activity, click here.