Policy for Student Illness

As a general practice, the Gilroy Unified School District uses the following criteria when deciding on when students should be excluded from the learning environment:

• The child does not feel well enough to participate comfortably in routine activities.
• The ill child requires more care than staff is able to provide without compromising the health and safety of the other children.
• The child poses a risk of spreading a harmful disease to others.

Certain conditions, by themselves, do not require a child to stay home unless recommended by the child’s health care provider:

• Common colds with mild symptoms of runny nose (regardless of color or consistency of nasal discharge), and intermittent cough.
• Low-grade fever (under 100 degrees) in the absence of any other signs or symptoms of illness (e.g. loss of appetite, lethargy, etc.).
• Watery eyes with a clear, watery discharge and without fever, eye pain, or eyelid redness.
• Rash without fever and without behavior changes.

For some conditions, it is recommended that a child stay home to reduce the spread of infection and/or to allow a child time to recover to the point where the child can safely return to school.  Below are examples when it is recommended for a child to stay home:

• If you are advised by your child’s medical provider to stay home due to illness and/or medical concern.
• Fever (100 degrees or higher) accompanied with behavior change or other signs of illness such as sore throat, rash, vomiting, diarrhea, earache, etc. (Note: Student may return when fever goes away overnight and is gone in the morning without the use of fever-reducing medication, and symptoms are mild and improving).
• Symptoms and signs of possible severe illness such as unusual tiredness, uncontrolled coughing or wheezing, difficulty breathing, or severe abdominal pain.
• Positive COVID-19 (or influenza) test along with symptoms such as fever or chills, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, muscle or body aches, headache sore throat, congestion or runny nose, etc.  (Note: Student may return when symptoms are mild and improving).
• Diarrhea — runny, watery or bloody stools when the stool cannot be contained in a diaper or is causing accidents in a toilet trained child.
• Vomiting — more than two times in the past 24-hour period (Note: Student may return when vomiting has ended overnight and they have been able to hold down solid food and liquids).
• Mouth sores with drooling — until evaluated by a health care provider.
• Any child determined by the local health department to be contributing to transmission of illness during an outbreak. For a list of reportable diseases see CCHP Health and Safety Note: Exposure to Communicable Disease.

The District may on occasion make the decision to send a child home due to significant medical issues/concerns.  Using the general guidelines above, the School Nurse, in collaboration with the site administrator, may deem it necessary for a child to be picked up from school.  Examples of instances that might warrant a request for pick up include the following:

• Serious accident/injury
• Localized rash or systemic rash of undetermined origin as a sign of potential illness or communicable disease
• Asthma symptoms that do not respond to prescribed medication or no prescribed medication is available for treatment of asthma symptoms
• Signs/symptoms of a serious, acute and uncontrollable illness
• Signs/symptoms of pink eye or purulent conjunctivitis (defined as pink or red conjunctiva with white or yellow eye discharge) – (Note: Student must receive treatment for 24 hours before returning to school and provide a note from a health care provider stating that the condition has been treated or is not contagious).

In the event that a child needs to be sent home under this policy, the site will call parent/guardian or designated, approved contacts on file.  For this reason, it is extremely important that all student contact information is updated and as accurate as possible.

Parents/guardians of students with special or severe medical conditions should reach out to the school directly to inquire if an Individual Health Care Plan is necessary.

In the event of a student medical emergency, school personnel may call 911, and the student may be transported to a medical facility via ambulance.  The cost of services provided by ambulance, private physician, clinic, hospital, or dentist remain the responsibility of the parent/guardian and will not be assumed by Gilroy Unified School district or school district personnel.