Ozaukee Child Care and Preschool Illness Policy
A very important part of our teachers’ jobs is to continually clean and sanitize our classrooms and equipment as well as keeping hands washed and noses wiped. We also educate our older children on the importance of hand washing and covering our noses and mouths when we sneeze and cough. Any help you can give us in these areas is much appreciated. Prevention is the key to reducing the amount and severity of illnesses.
With that in mind, we would like to inform you of our illness policies. We work closely with our State Licensing Representative as well as the Ozaukee County Health Department when establishing and enforcing our illness policies. When speaking with the Health Department, we have shared with them our policies and confirmed that they are in line with their recommendations and stressed that we should be strict with them to ensure the healthiest center possible.
If your child has a potentially contagious illness (see examples below), they must be kept out of child care until they have been free of the illness for 24 hours.
Vomiting
If your child has vomited in the last 24 hours, you must keep your child home. If your child vomits at the center, you will be called to come and pick up your child and they must not return unless they are vomit free for 24 hours.
Fever (Over 101)
As a preventative measure, upon drop off each day, children’s temperatures will be taken by the teacher accepting the child. If your child has a fever of 101 degrees or higher, you must keep your child at home. If your child develops a fever at the center, you will be called to come and pick up your child and they must not return to the center unless they are fever free without the use of any fever reducing medicine for 24 hours.
Diarrhea
If your child has had diarrhea in the last 24 hours, you must keep your child home. If your child has 3 diarrheas in a 24-hour period, you will be called to come and pick up your child and they must not return to the center unless they are diarrhea free for 24 hours.
If you feel that your child has developed symptoms of a contagious illness but for whatever reason they are not contagious, then you must take your child to a physician and get a written excuse or have them fill out our Return to the Child Care Center Form specifically stating that the child is not contagious and why before they may return to the center.
You may also be asked to take your child to the doctor if there is an unknown rash or excessive coughing, for these are also symptoms of a contagious illness.
If your child is diagnosed with an illness such as pink eye or strep throat, which are contagious illnesses that require antibiotics, your child must be on the antibiotic at least 24 hours before returning to the center.
If your child is diagnosed with a reportable virus or communicable disease such as COVID-19, chicken pox, German measles, infectious hepatitis, measles, mumps, scarlet fever or meningitis, the child may not be readmitted to the center until the child has been absent for a period of time equal to the longest usual incubation period for the disease or as the current guidance dictates for the specific virus or disease.
If you are bringing in medication for your child, an Authorization to Administer Medication Form must be completed and it must be incident specific and time limited. Medication must be in the original container and labeled with the child’s name and the label must include the dosage and directions for administration and cannot be left at the center beyond the time specified on the medication label.
Also, medication cannot be left at the center for purposes of reducing a fever. If your child has a fever, they must not attend the center until they are fever free for 24 hours.
If your child will not be attending the center due to a contagious illness, please make sure you notify the center within an hour and a half of your scheduled drop off time so that the child can be marked off our attendance for the day and we can post a notification of the illness, if required.
Please keep this letter for future reference. The health of your child and the other children in the center is of utmost concern to us. Children are at higher risk of complications from minor illnesses, as their immune system is not fully developed. This is why it is so important to us that our policies are respected.