Parents of School Children - What are the school rules if a child comes to school with a eye...

[Mom2Brendan]

I'm wondering because on Wednesday nite my son scratched his eye trying to get something out . Well, his eye looked pretty bad and I said to myself if his eye still like this bad in the morning  I will let him miss school.

Instead his eye was looking better , he wasn't complaining of  pain, itchiness and there was no discharge .

So I thought it was safe for him to go to school to only get a call from the school thinking he had pink eye and telling me to come to get him even though I said No it's Not Pink eye he just hurt his eye by trying to get something out of it .

They still told me to come and get him .  We brought the doctor diagnosis to school stating scratched eye not contagious .

So then I was thinking I should have put a note in the backpack about it  but then I kept on wondering since over the phone I mentioned the reason why his eye was like that but still they had me come to get him.

So then I wonder if a note would have did any good.

[annethcz]

I can't imagine that my kids would've been sent home for that.  But, I would've given the school a heads up by sending in a note or calling the teacher.  Since you didn't prepare them, they could only assume the worst.  I think preventative measures can go a long way.

[HollyBearsMom]

Do your school have an RN or was this just the teachers opinion?

Our school has an RN.  I can't imagine she would ever send a kid home just because of an irritated looking eye without other symptoms, especially after the parent explained. On the other hand I do keep her in the loop so I would have shot her an email letting her know what happened in case it did get worse during the day. 

The communication is really good at our school.  We often get "heads up" emails- like a case of lice was detected in the upper school, there are 3 kids with strep in lower school, etc along with a list of symptoms or what to watch for.  They are not very knee jerk and actually were pretty calm during the whole swine flu debacle.  The things I was hearing form parents at other schools had me 

[One_Girl]

If they suspect pink eye they don't let the child back in unless they have been on antibiotic drops for 24 hours or have a note stating it is not pink eye and it is not contagious (and it really has to be very clear about the NOT part, maybe and probably doesn't work).  It is not fun to have to go through the stress of going to the doctor, but pink eye is a nasty thing that can keep going around, you don't build up immunity and it spreads quickly in school settings.  And with so many parents giving bogus stories about why their kid is not sick when it turns out they actually are they really have to treat everyone the same way no matter how much they believe them.  The nicest parents try to squeak by even for the nastiest diseases and they ruined it for everyone.

[ecoteat]

 Sending a copy of a doctor's note in the morning would be helped, but just a note from you probably wouldn't have. Schools have to be very careful with infectious illnesses.

[DidiToo]

My son's school asks for a note from the doctor certifying that he can attend if the eye appears to be pink. 

[Mom2Brendan]

Thanks for the input .  This was the teacher & secretary opinion not the RN.

I just wished they would have waited for input from the RN especially after I had told them it was just a scratched eye .

But no they were nearly begging me to come & get him .

So I'm like this is just great my son gets to miss school because he scratched his eye & the rest of them are too jumpy thinking he had pink eye .

I know plenty people do send kids when they are ill but not me .  I never thought they would have reacted like this because his only symptom was a Pink Colored eye !  No other symptoms & they have asked if his eye hurts he responds No .