Clinic Corner

List of 2 items.

• Too sick to attend school?

  As the flu season approaches this is a perfect time to remind you that sometimes your child may be too sick to attend school.  Most Marist School students are reluctant to stay home when they are ill; they worry about missing class and getting behind on tests and assignments.  Students often persuade their parents that they are well enough to “get through the day” when in fact they should be at home.  Remaining at home will not only allow an ill student to recover faster but it will minimize the chance of a student spreading their illness to others.  Marist follows the school attendance guidelines suggested by Children’s Health Care of Atlanta.  They are as follows.
  
  

  Students should stay home if they…

  • have a fever higher than 100.4 (when not taking fever reducing medications such as Tylenol or Motrin)
  • have vomited more than once
  • have diarrhea
  • have the flu (fever with any of the following…aches, chills, respiratory congestion, sore throat)
  • have a persistent and frequent cough
  • have constant pain (ear ache, stomach ache, recent injury, etc.) that impacts their ability to concentrate
  • have lice that have not been treated
  • have strep throat and have not been on antibiotics for 24 hours
  • have a spreading rash

• Do you accept religious exemptions for immunizations?

  Marist School accepts students who present a "religious exemption" in lieu of a Georgia 3231 Immunization Form. Use of a religious exemption however, carries some consequences.

  
  First, because students who are not fully immunized are significantly more susceptible to childhood illnesses, they will be limited in their exposure to young children when at Marist School or Marist School activities. Specifically, they may not volunteer in the Early Learning Center, fulfill their community service hours in settings that involve children six years old and younger, and they may not participate in mission trips that include interaction with children six years and younger. Overseas trips will be considered on a case by case basis.
  
  Second, Georgia State law mandates that in the case of an outbreak of a communicable disease, students with a religious exemption must be excluded from school immediately. They are to remain out of school until proof of immunity to the disease in circulation is presented to Marist School and is approved by the Department of Public Health. Exclusion may be as long as the duration of the outbreak plus the incubation period. The parents/guardians of the excluded student, not Marist School, are responsible for assisting the excluded student in their school work while absent from school.
  
  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.