Health Care Policy
When do I keep my child home due to illness?
For the protection of all our friends, your child should be kept at home if they show any of the following symptoms:
- a temperature of 100 degrees or more
- discharging eyes or ears
- diarrhea or vomiting
- a bad cold (i.e., with colored discharge)
- an unexplained rash
- severe coughing
Children must be free of the symptoms listed above for 24 hours (without medication) in order to come back to school.
Illness during school
If your child becomes ill during school, we will contact you immediately. A child who may be contagious will be temporarily isolated until parents can be reached. We will keep them as comfortable as possible until the parent arrives.
Parents will be contacted to pick up their child if an unexplained rash is found while a child is at school. In this case, written consent from the child's physician is required in order for the child to return to school.
It is important that we have on file the health history and emergency contact information for your child, with a listing of persons to contact in case of a health emergency, and a phone number where a parent or guardian can be reached immediately.
Communicable Diseases
If a child has been exposed to a contagious disease, Amherst Montessori School must be notified. We specifically need to know when a child will return to school after a communicable disease according to the following schedule:
Chicken Pox: Your child may return to school one week to ten days after appearance of blisters, and after all blisters have scabbed over.
Streptococcal Infection (“Strep Throat”): 24 hours after medication has started (must continue medication for 10 days).
Conjunctivitis ("Pink-eye"): 24 hours after medication begins and no visible drainage from eye or with written physician permission.
Impetigo: 24 hours after oral medication begins, or 48 hours after ointment medication begins
Head lice: Morning after first treatment and after all nits are removed by hand.
Dispensing of Medication
Only staff members who have been trained according to DEEC guidelines on medication administration may administer medication. Staff are evaluated annually prior to the start of the new school year to evaluate their DEEC credentials.
Per the State Department of Human Services Day Care regulations, teachers may not administer over-the-counter medicine such as aspirin, cough medicine, etc. unless accompanied by a doctor’s note. Parents will need to sign a medical release form, as well.
Topical non-prescription medications such as sunscreen, petroleum jelly, or other ointments may be administered with written parental authorization.
Guidlines for students who need prescription medication during school:
- Parents bring in written instructions signed by the parent and physician. The instructions should include:
- Medication name
- Dosage & medication administration schedule
- If more than one day’s dosage is to be given, please provide all dates the medication is to be given.
- Doctor's name
- Parent must send medicine to school in its original container and give it directly to Kelly Edreich. She will process administrative forms in regards to the medication.
- For refrigerated medication, we suggest having the pharmacist portion out the medicine to be taken at school, so the entire bottle does not have to be transported back and forth from school to home.
- Medication is to be kept in a specified area, refrigerated if necessary, and administered under the supervision of a teacher.
If your child is prescribed a life-saving medication, such as an inhaler or epi-pen, they should have an individual health care plan on file at the school. With the written permission of the child’s health care practitioner, parents will train staff in the implementation of the child’s health care plan.
Accident/Injury Report Forms
Any time your child sustains a minor injury at school (i.e. slight bump, scratch, cut, or bruise) an accident report form will be filled out by the teacher present. This form of explains the conditions surrounding the accident and the medical aid (if any) given.
Your child’s teacher will review the accident/injury report form with you and request your signature on this form for our files. If at any time a child is seriously injured, parents are notified immediately.
COVID-19
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Amherst Montessori School is following the regulations set forth by the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care, guidance from the CDC, and recommendations from our health care consultant to ensure safe operation of our school. Our procedures and policies are subject to change as new research, regulations, and policies emerge.
For more about our Health Care Policy, please download the 2022-2023 Parent Handbook here.