ATTENDANCE POLICY AND SCHOOL NURSE

As the Holiday season approaches, we want to remind all parents that the school will be closed December 21, 2009, thru January 8, 2010.  School should continue to be a priority for your child/children.  This means not taking them out of school days or weeks before and after the holidays.  Students are expected to be in school before and after the holiday break; therefore, we ask that you schedule family vacations during this break.  Absenteeism makes learning more difficult for a student and disrupts the continuity of the classroom setting.   Parents can help their children by refusing to allow them to miss school needlessly.  Keep in mind that if your son/daughter has five or more unexcused absences you may be asked to attend a meeting with school officials regarding attendance.  Educational Code states that when returning from an absence, the student must report to the Attendance Office before school with a note from a parent or a doctor.  When a student returns without a note, the absence may become a truancy on the student’s attendance record.  If you decide that your son/daughter will miss school because of a family emergency or starting a vacation early, your child’s absence will be unexcused.  If you have any questions, you may contact Mrs. Hernández, Pupil Services and Attendance Counselor at (323) 644-6734.  As parents, the biggest gift that we can give our children during the holiday season is the gift of an education.

Every year the severity of influenza symptoms are different and more disease transmission from students to families may occur. Influenza is considered serious for children below 2 years, the elderly and those with certain chronic medical conditions. Children older than 2 without chronic conditions are not considered at high risk; however, children this age may be the major route of transmission of the influenza virus to other household members. Families of those who were influenza-positive had a longer duration of fever and school absence or had ill children at home for longer periods of time. Children attending day care centers and school are frequently affected with influenza. My recommendations for parents include;

1. Keep your children at home if they are sick with influenza-like illness such as fever

above 100°F, coughing, sore throat or runny nose.

2. Teach your children to avoid touching their eyes, mouth and nose as much as possible and

3. Encourage washing their hands with soap often.

At school students are encouraged to “Stop the Spread of Germs” that make you and others sick by;

1. Covering their mouth and nose with a tissue when they cough or sneeze

2. Coughing or sneezing into their upper sleeve not their hands

3. Placing the used tissue in the waste basket

4. Clean their hands after coughing or sneezing

5. Wash their hands with soap and warm water for 20 seconds or

6. Clean their hands with alcohol-based hand cleaner