My child is sick, now what?

Dear Families, 

It is so exciting to have kids on campus this year and we are working hard to make this a safe and welcoming environment for all students. With the goal of kids at school as much as possible, we recognize that there will also be missed school to protect the community from the spread of COVID-19. 

We have gotten a lot of questions in the past few weeks about what families should do if their child gets sick with covid like symptoms. As a reminder the signs & symptoms of COVID-19 are:

  • Fever 100.4F
  • Chills
  • Nasal Congestion
  • Runny nose
  • Shortness of breath
  • Difficulty breathing
  • Diarrhea
  • Nausea/Vomiting
  • Fatigue
  • Headache
  • Muscle or body aches
  • New loss of taste or smell 

If your student has any of the above symptoms that are NOT related to another health concern (food poisoning, allergies, etc) then they must stay home. Students with symptoms of COVID-19 infection may not to return for in-person instruction until they have met California Department of Public Health criteria to return to school which are:

  1. At least 24 hours have passed since resolution of fever without the use of fever-reducing medications; and
  2. Other symptoms have improved; and
  3. They have a negative test for SARS-CoV-2, OR a healthcare provider has provided documentation that the symptoms are typical of their underlying chronic condition (e.g., allergies or asthma) OR a healthcare provider has confirmed an alternative named diagnosis (e.g., Streptococcal pharyngitis, Coxsackie virus), OR at least 10 days have passed since symptom onset.

When students live with someone who is sick, they do not need to stay home until there is a positive COVID-19 test result for the individual who is sick. This feels counterintuitive and several families have chosen to keep their children home in the case that a family member has symptoms and are awaiting test results. We honor this choice and support families in making this decision. 

To help keep student learning happening while kiddos are not on campus we have the ability to issue a short term independent study agreement. This will be a combination of work that students are doing on campus as well as other activities including online learning. If your child will be out for an extended period of time due to either of the reasons listed above and they are well enough to complete school work, please request an independent study packet. We will do what we can to provide one to you as quickly as possible. 

Please reach out with any questions or concerns. Hopefully we will have the answers and if not we will find them and learn together. Thank you for all you do to help keep Fuente Nueva kiddos safe and learning in school. 

All the best,

Directora Beth