Your Opinion on District Letter re: Absences

[Nurse Beth]

Hi there school nurse friends,

I have a question for you all working in schools. What are your thoughts about a district letter sent to parents of children who have had more than 10 absences (school year to date) instructing them to send your child to school if they have a stomach ache, are fatigued, temp

Best,

Nurse Beth

[Twinmom06, ASN, APN]

our school sends the letters AND has a hearing with 3 days missed....I have friends that have a kid with a nasty flu going into the school ALL the time!

[AdobeRN]

Our district will send out the letters too - thankfully I have nothing to do with them - data clerk and AP handle this. I do have to get involved with those that are put on some kind of attendance contract - this can be with just the school or required by truancy court. At that time if parents are keeping the kid home they will need a doctors note for the absence of they can come to me to verify fever, diarrhea or vomiting - and then they can only miss school according to our illness policies (fever free x24 hours before returning, going without diarrhea x24 hours & able to eat 1-2 meals without vomiting). It is a pain in the rear for parents to drag their kid up to school for me to take their temperature - I usually get an earfull of the complaints about this policy.

[NutmeggeRN, BSN]

The VP and his secretary handle but will confer with me re high numbers, just to make sure they are aware of an ongoing or acute illness that resulted in extra days out.