District Nurse

If your child is sent home from school with a fever (temperature of 100 degrees or higher), diarrhea, vomiting, or other viral/flu like symptoms, it is requested that the child remain home from school for 24 hours after symptoms have resolved (with the use of medication). This may help prevent your child’s illness from making other children ill. A student with pink eye may return to school after any prescribed therapy is implemented, except when accompanied with another systemic illness. Students with bacterial or viral conjunctivitis should remain home if their behavior is such that they cannot avoid close contact with other students. Students with allergic conjunctivitis are not contagious and may remain in school.

Please make sure each year you submit the current year health form that is provided at the beginning of the year. This keeps the school nurse updated on your students important health needs, allergies, and emergency contacts. If your student is diagnosed with asthma, seizures, allergy/anaphylaxis, bleeding disorders or diabetes, it is requested that you have an action plan updated at the beginning of each school year, these should be filled out by your student’s physician or health care provider, and forms are available with the school nurse.  All medications (prescription/over the counter) require a medication authorization form to be filled out by the parent/guardian at the time medication is dropped off. Medications will not be accepted or administered without this form filled out-form available with the school nurse. If your student has food allergies or needs food accommodations due to allergy a food allergy form should be filled out and signed by the physician, this will be sent to the schools nutrition coordinator.

Student Emergency Procedure Forms: These forms are required of every student.  Please provide information at the beginning of each school year with updated health needs, allergies, medications taken (even if taken at home), and emergency contacts.  This keeps the school nurse updated on your student’s health needs.  These forms are included in each school’s registration packets.

Emergency Action Plans: If your student is diagnosed with asthma (if they have a rescue inhaler, it is important to keep one at school), seizures, severe allergy/anaphylaxis, bleeding disorders or diabetes, it is requested that you have an action plan updated at the beginning of each school year.

Medication Forms: All medications (prescription AND over the counter) require a medication authorization form to be filled out by the parent/guardian at the time medication is dropped off. Medications will not be accepted or administered without this form completed.  The form is available below and with the school nurse.  Over the counter medications can only be administered for 5 school days without a health care provider’s signature.  It is recommended that if your student has recurring needs for over the counter medications (for example, after orthodontic work) that the form be signed by a health care provider.

Food Allergies or Sensitivities: If your student has food allergies or needs food accommodations due to an allergy, a food allergy form should be filled out and signed by the physician. This will be sent to the school’s nutrition coordinator.

FORMS

Cardiac Action Plan Form

Medical Authorization Form

Seizure Action Plan Form

Asthma Action Plan Form

Severe Allergy Action Plan Form

Diabetes Medical Management Plan Form

Bleeding Disorders  Action Plan

The thought of lice makes everyone’s head itch! No one chooses to have lice in their child’s hair or in their home. Lice, however, are not responsible for the spread of any diseases, they are simply a nuisance. Many schools in the past have had “no nit policies”. Evidence-based research has shown that these policies are NOT effective in controlling the spread of lice in schools. In fact, they do more harm than good by keeping students out of school for prolonged periods of time. If careful observation indicates that a student has head lice, the School Nurse will contact the student’s parent to determine whether the child will need to be picked up from school and to discuss a plan for treatment. Student’s may return to school after their first lice treatment has been done at home.

Facts about LICE:
– Having Head Lice is NOT a sign of uncleanliness or poor hygiene.
– Nits are lice eggs and can be found close to the scalp as they require the heat
from the scalp to hatch; Look like tiny oval white to yellow dots
– Nymphs are baby lice
– Adult Lice are no bigger than a sesame seed and a brownish tan
– Lice cannot hop, jump, or fly
– Lice move from person to person through close bodily contact
– Live Lice need warmth and blood supply to live
– Lice cannot survive more than 48 hours without warmth and a blood supply
– Live Lice and Nits do NOT carry diseases
– In most cases, a person has had lice for 3-4 weeks before it is identified

Treatment for LICE:
– There are a variety of treatments available for lice.
– Over the counter: Nix & Rid or Prescription medication
– Read and follow all instructions on medications
– Thorough treatment includes combing through the hair with a special lice comb
everyday for several days to remove the nits.
– Retreatment with a medicated lice shampoo is often needed 7-10 days after the
initial treatment to kill any newly hatched lice.
– Don’t use a hair dryer on your child’s hair after applying any of the currently
available scalp treatments (some contain flammable ingredients)
– Don’t use a cream rinse or shampoo/conditioner combination before applying the
lice medication
– Don’t wash your child’s hair for 1-2 days after using a medicated treatment
– Don’t use more than one head lice medication at a time

– Don’t use the same medication more than three times on one person. If it
doesn’t seem to be working, contact your child’s doctor
– Wash and Dry clothing, bed linens and other items the infected person wore or
used during the 2 days before treatment. Use hot water and the high heat drying
cycle
– Items that can not be washed (to include stuffed animals) can be sealed in a
plastic bag and stored for 2 weeks
– There is no need to fumigate or spray the house as they do not live in cracks and
crevices in the house

Additional Resources:

https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/lice/

En Espanol:

State Law and MISD policy requires up-to-date immunizations and documentation to be on file for all students to remain in attendance, and enrolled, at school. Immunization records must be as complete as medically feasible.

Texas mandated immunizations for school year 201-22 include:

1)DTAP: Diphtheria, Tetanus and Acellular Pertussis (Whooping Cough); Records may indicate DTaP, Tdap, DTP, DT, or Td

     K-6th grade: 4 or 5 doses of DTaP vaccine with 1 dose received ON or AFTER the 4th birthday.  For students over the age of 7, 3 doses meet the requirements if 1 dose was received on or after the 4th birthday.

     7th grade: 1 additional dose of Tdap is required IF at least 5 years have passed since the last dose of Tetanus-containing Vaccine.

     8th-12 grade: 1 additional dose of Tdap/Td is required IF 10 years have passed since the last dose of Tetanus-containing Vaccine.

2)Polio: Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV); Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV)

     K-12th grade: 3 or 4 doses of Polio with 1 dose received ON or AFTER the 4th birthday.

3)Hep B: Hepatitis B Vaccine

     K-12th grade: 3 doses.  For ages 11-15 years, 2 doses meet the requirement IF the adult Hepatitis B vaccine (Recombivax®) was received.  Dosage and type of vaccine (Recombivax®) must be clearly documented.

4)Hep A: Hepatitis A Vaccine

     K-11th grade: 2 doses. The first dose must be received ON or AFTER the 1st birthday.

5)MMR: Measles, Mumps and Rubella Vaccine (combined)

     K-12th grade: 2 doses. The first dose must be received ON or AFTER the 1st birthday. Students vaccinated prior to 2009 with 2 doses of Measles and 1 dose of each Mumps and Rubella satisfy this requirement.

6)Varicella: Chickenpox Vaccine

     K-12th grade: 2 doses. The first dose must be received ON or AFTER the 1st birthday.

7) Meningococcal: Meningitis Vaccine (MCV4)

     7-12th grade: 1 dose of Quadrivalent Meningococcal conjugate vaccine is required ON or AFTER the 11th birthday.  If the student received the vaccine at 10 years of age, this will satisfy this requirement.

NOTE: Documented evidence of previous illness (Varicella, Measles, Mumps, Rubella, Hepatitis A, or Hepatitis B) is acceptable in place of these vaccines.  Please contact the School Nurse for requirements.

EXEMPTIONS:

Texas Law allows:

• a physician to write a statement stating that the vaccine(s) required would be medically harmful or injurious to the health and well-being of the child.  NOTE: These statements MUST be renewed ANNUALLY at the beginning of each new school year unless the physician documents the exemption is due to a lifelong condition.
• parents/guardians to choose an exemption from immunization requirements for reasons of conscience, including religious belief.  The law does NOT allow parents/guardians to elect an exemption simply because of inconvenience (for example, a record that is lost or incomplete and it is too much trouble to go to a physician or clinic to correct the problem). NOTE: The affidavit MUST be renewed EVERY 2 years.

For children needing medical exemptions, a written statement should be completed by the child’s physician OR parents/guardians should complete the medical immunization exemption affidavit they obtained from the State of Texas.  Completed documentation should be submitted to the School Nurse.

Instructions for the affidavit can be found at:  https://www.dshs.texas.gov/immunize/school/exemptions.aspx

Students with exemptions can be excluded from attending school if an outbreak occurs.

NOTE: It is the parent’s/guardian’s responsibility to ensure that exemptions remain current.  Failure to maintain the current status of exemptions, results in non-compliance and the student is placed in a provisional enrollment status.  The school shall exclude the student from school attendance until the required dose is administered or the exemptions notarized and filed with the school and after 30 days the student may be disenrolled.

PROVISIONAL ENROLLMENT:

ALL immunizations must be completed by the first day of attendance.  The law requires that students be fully vaccinated against the specified diseases.  A student may be enrolled provisionally, if the student has a valid immunization record that indicates the student has received at least one dose of each of the required age-specific immunizations.  To remain enrolled, the student must complete the required subsequent doses in each vaccine series ON SCHEDULE and provide acceptable proof of vaccination to the school as quickly as feasible.  The District Nurse will review the immunizations and provide a catch-up plan for all delinquent immunizations in provisional status.  The immunization status of a provisionally enrolled student will be reviewed every 30 days by a school nurse or administrator.  If, at the end of the 30 day period, a student has not received a subsequent dose of vaccine, the student is not in compliance and the school shall exclude the student from school attendance until the required dose is administered.  The student may also be disenrolled.

DOCUMENTATION:

Since many types of personal immunization records are in use, a variety of documentation will be acceptable provided a physician or public health personnel have validated it.  Official documentation from the Texas Immunization Registry is also acceptable.  The month, day and year that the vaccination was received must be recorded on ALL school immunizations recreated or updated.