Health Office Happenings
January 2026 - Happy New Year! 🎉
As we move through cold and flu season, we want to take a moment to remind our families of the importance of staying home when sick. Please see the guidelines below to help determine when students should remain at home due to illness. Reach out to your school nurse if you have any questions, or need any additional guidance. We appreciate your partnership in helping to minimize the spread of illnesses in school!
Your student should remain at home if they have:
- Uncontrollable and/or productive cough
- Fever over 100.4 degrees fahrenheit within past 24 hours
- Vomiting or diarrhea within past 24 hours
- Sore throat and swollen glands
- Undiagnosed rash or skin eruptions
- Earache, severe headache or drainage from eyes
Students should remain home for 24 hours after an acute illness or after starting antibiotics for a diagnosed infection.
They should also be fever-free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication (acetaminophen, ibuprofen, etc).
These absences can be excused with a note from a student's health care provider.
Please remember to report any communicable disease (strep throat, flu, pneumonia, COVID-19, etc.) to your school nurse. The APS nurses vigilantly track illness data, and depend on these reports from families to help us identify and address any illness outbreaks that may occur at school.
See the APS Illness Guidelines here.
You may have heard that an elementary school in Medford had to close in December due to a high number of cases of norovirus, a very contagious virus that causes vomiting and diarrhea. At this time, no clusters or outbreaks have affected APS, but the school nurses will continue to monitor this closely.
Norovirus outbreaks are common in the winter months, with peak outbreaks often occurring from November through April. Symptoms typically occur 12-48 hours after exposure, and commonly include nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Some may also experience fever, headache or body aches. Norovirus spreads very quickly by direct contact with an infected person, ingesting food or drink contaminated with the virus, or touching contaminated objects/surfaces. You can find more information about norovirus here.
Below are some helpful tips, tricks, and suggestions to help mitigate the spread of norovirus:
- Effective handwashing is critical! Students should wash hands with soap and water for 20 seconds several times per day, especially after using the bathroom and before eating. Singing "Happy Birthday" twice while washing is an easy and fun way for students to do this. Please practice effective handwashing with your children at home. Note that hand sanitizer does not work well against norovirus.
- Keep commonly-used surfaces and objects clean. Check the label of the cleaning product you are using, noting whether it is effective in killing norovirus.
- Students and staff with vomiting or diarrhea should remain out of school until it has been 24 hours since their symptoms resolved. See illness guidelines above.
Please let the school nurse know if your student is diagnosed with norovirus.
You get the dreaded call from the nurse... your student has lice! It’s not a topic anyone wants to talk about, but knowing a few facts about head lice can help to allay fears and get on the right track with treatment.
Head lice are a common community problem. An estimated 6-12 million infestations occur each year in the United States, most commonly among children ages 3 to 11 years old (hello, elementary schools!). Head lice are not dangerous or a sign of poor hygiene, and they do not transmit disease.
Current best practice states that students do not need to be excluded from school for head lice. However, families are encouraged to begin treatment as soon as possible to help make their students more comfortable and to help stop the spread of head lice in the community.
If you believe your student has head lice, you should:
Notify their pediatrician so that they may provide guidance on treatment options.
Begin treatment as soon as possible.
Notify the school nurse. If cases are not reported, we are unable to accurately monitor and report on clusters or outbreaks. Your partnership in helping us track cases is greatly appreciated!
To help mitigate spread/minimize risk of getting head lice, encourage your student to avoid direct head-to-head contact with others, as this is the most common way that head lice spread from person to person.
You can find good information on head lice at the CDC website here, and examples of what an egg and lice look like here. This 3 minute video shows how to effectively comb and treat lice. The American Academy of Pediatrics Head Lice Clinical Report is a great resource for information and treatment options.
Winter weather can be tough on children’s skin, often leading to dryness, itching, nose bleeds, and chapped lips. Cold temperatures, low humidity, and indoor heating all pull moisture from the skin.
To help prevent dry skin, encourage your child to use a gentle, fragrance-free soap and apply a thick moisturizer or cream immediately after bathing, while the skin is still slightly damp. Limiting long, hot baths or showers can also help protect the skin’s natural barrier.
For chapped lips, apply a lip balm frequently throughout the day—especially before going outside and at bedtime—and choose products with ingredients like petrolatum (Vaseline or Aquaphor) or beeswax. Dry noses can be treated with petrolatum, too! Remind children to avoid licking their lips, as this can make dryness worse.
With a few simple daily habits, you can help keep your child’s skin healthy and comfortable all winter long. Please be sure to pack chapstick and lotion in your child's backpack to help keep them comfortable at school.
Per APS policy, and in accordance with state regulations, all 4th grade students must have a current physical examination on file in the nurse’s office.
The physical must be from within the last 12 months and include the health care provider’s signature and the date of examination. If you have not already done so, please send this in at your earliest convenience.
Helpful hint: If your student has an online portal through their pediatrician's office (i.e., MyChart), physicals are usually in the "Letters and School Form" section. You can download them as a PDF.
If your student has not had a physical within the last 12 months, kindly send a confirmation of their upcoming appointment to the school nurse, and provide a copy upon completion.
Physicals can be uploaded into the SNAP Health Portal, faxed, or mailed to the school nurse.
If a student requires the use of an assistive/orthopedic device at school for an injury (crutches, brace, boot, etc.), a note from their health care provider must be submitted to the school nurse prior to the student coming to school with the device. These devices are considered a treatment for a diagnosed injury, and thus, require appropriate medical documentation.
Please do not send your student to school with one of these devices without appropriate documentation and evaluation by the provider, and without notifying the nurse ahead of time. Student safety remains our top priority, and it is imperative that any plans or accommodations be in place prior to students returning to school post-injury, so that they may safely access school.
The provider's note should include any physical activity restrictions the student has while at school (example: no PE/sports until cleared, allow elevator use, etc.). Once the student has recovered and is able to return to usual activities, a follow-up note from the provider is needed to clear the activity restriction.
Please remember to send your student(s) to school with appropriate winter clothing (warm coats, hats, gloves/mittens, etc.). Students should be dressed to be comfortable to be outside for 20 minutes. If your family is in need of winter clothing, please reach out to your student's school nurse or the APS Welcome Center. There are lots of resources available!
Bonus tip: As students often get wet from playing outside in the snow, it is a great idea to have them keep a spare set of clothes in their backpack or locker. The school nurses have a limited supply of spare clothing, which is typically reserved for students whose clothing gets soiled with bodily fluids.
The Welcome & Resource Center at Arlington High School is here to support students and families across our community! It’s a friendly, inclusive space where families can get help with school enrollment, student services, and local community resources.
Whether you’re new to Arlington Public Schools or just looking for a little extra guidance, the team at the Welcome & Resource Center is ready to help you find what you need and feel connected to our school community.
Their goal is simple — to make sure every family feels welcome, informed, and supported.
Be sure to check out Spy Ponder Threads where you can find gently used clothing, winter gear, backpacks, shoes, and more!
Arlington EATS is a community-based program to help end food insecurity and hunger right here in Arlington. The program offers free, welcoming services to all Arlington residents, ensuring everyone has access to healthy food and community support.
