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BLUEBIRD ATELIER SICK POLICY

At Bluebird Atelier, we follow the CDC’s guidelines for schools in the effort to minimize the spread of illness. This includes supervised routine and as-needed hand-washing and hand sanitizing, routine and as-needed disinfection of high-touch surfaces and eating surfaces, and adherence to our sick policy. As a parent/guardian, your part in this effort includes keeping your child home when signs of illness are present (see below for specific guidelines), teaching your child to cover their cough and sneezes with the inside of their elbow, teaching proper handwashing procedure (see below), and vaccinating your child against the flu. School age children are at high risk for flu, and it is difficult to contain the virus once it is introduced into the community, often resulting in staff illness and staffing shortages. Geisinger provides convenient flu vaccination scheduling for the whole family, and drive-thru pop-up clinics starting in September. For more information: https://www.geisinger.org/flu

Bluebird Atelier reserves the right to temporarily deny any child admittance to class for reasons of obvious illness, or to request early departure should symptoms become apparent during the course of the day. Any child who seems unable to participate in our program for any reason will be sent home. This is to ensure the continued good health of everyone at the studio. We realize that many of you are working parents and we do try to accommodate you as much as possible. However, for the health and well being of the children in our care and our staff we feel it is vital to maintain a strict wellness policy. 

When a child may not attend class:

  • Fever: Children will be sent home if their temperature is 100.0 or higher and must stay home the next day for observation. Children must be free of fever (any temperature above 98.6 degrees) for at least 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medication. The same policy applies if your child develops a fever at home. They must be fever free (any temperature above 98.6 degrees) for at least 24 hours without the use of fever reducing medication.

  • Rash: Any rash other than a common diaper rash or skin irritation will require the child to be sent home for an evaluation and diagnosis from their doctor. They may return to school based on that written doctor’s evaluation, and clearance that it is not contagious.

  • Conjunctivitis (pink eye): Children will be sent home if there appears to be an unusual amount of discharge from or irritation to their eye(s) and must stay home the next day for observation. Before returning to class they will need an evaluation and diagnosis from their doctor in writing.
    If the diagnosis is BACTERIAL CONJUNCTIVITIS children must have received at least 24 hours of treatment.
    If the diagnosis is VIRAL CONJUNCTIVITIS your child may return AS LONG AS THERE IS NO DISCHARGE. If in fact they do not have “pink eye,” we need a doctor’s note with a diagnosis and a clearance that it is not contagious.

  • Diarrhea: Children will be sent home if they have three or more loose bowel movements in one day and must stay home the next day for observation. Before returning to class (after the day of observation) children must be free from diarrhea for 24 hours with at least 1 regular bowel movement. If your child has one or more loose bowel movements on their first day back they will again be sent home.

  • Vomiting: Children will be sent home if they vomit and must stay home the next day for observation. Before returning to class (after the day of observation) children must be symptom free with no vomiting for at least 24 hours.

  • Persistent Hacking Cough: Children will be sent home if they have a new persistent hacking cough and must stay home the next day for observation. Before returning to class they will need an evaluation and diagnosis from their doctor in writing and at least 24 hours of treatment. If in fact they do not require any treatment we need a doctor’s note with a clearance that it is not contagious.

  • Lice: Children will be readmitted 24 hours after treatment and must be nit free. 

Common Cold Policy

Children suffering from a common cold will be assessed on an individual basis. We trust parents to use their best judgment when it comes to sending children to class when they have a cold, based on the developmental level of your child in congruence with our ability to limit the spread of germs, and the ability of the child to participate normally in the day’s activities. Keep in mind that the younger your child, the more difficult it is to keep the spread of germs down. For example: hand to face contact, mouthing of toys, uncontrolled nasal discharge, uncovered sneezing and coughing etc.

Proper Handwashing to Reduce the Spread of Germs

We strongly encourage families to facilitate hand washing routines at home that reinforce the following procedure:

 

Step 1: Rinse your hands with water. Turn off water to conserve.

Step 2: Scrub all areas of hands for 20 seconds, including front and back of hands, between fingers, under nails. It is convenient to get into the habit of singing the ABC song or “Itsy Bitsy Spider” while scrubbing as a way to ensure adequate scrub time. 

Step 3: Rinse hands, shut off water

Step 4: Dry hands

A great poster to print out and put near the sink: 

https://nsfinternational.widen.net/s/jzlgzxsgtw

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