It can be difficult to decide when and how long to keep an ill child home from school. The timing of the absence is often important in order to decrease the spread of disease to others and to prevent your child from acquiring any other illness while his/her resistance is lowered. 

Details on common childhood illnesses and recommendations of the School Nursing Services, Hamilton County Office of Education can be found in the Student Health Handbook.

Students will be granted an excused absence for personal illness, as well as illness in the family, religious reasons, death in the family, or other reasons the home and school agree upon.  Any student who is absent for personal illness or other excused reasons shall be responsible for contacting the teacher and completing the make-up work on a schedule approved by the teacher.

A student may not miss more than 10% of any school year to participate in activities, unless there has been an extended illness.  A student must be in school for at least half of a day to participate in extracurricular activities that day.

Excessive absence from school may result in the withholding of credit and loss of driving privileges at the secondary level, or the retention of a student at the elementary level.

Ohio law requires that parents call school whenever a child is absent.  Parents are asked to call their school’s attendance line on the morning of a student absence.