Health Services

Lake Forest School District administrators, nurses and staff respectfully ask that you keep your child home from school based on the following recommendations by the American Academy of Pediatrics:

• A fever of 100.4 F or higher.
  • Children should be fever free for at least 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medication before returning to school.
• Diarrhea (defined as 3 or more watery or loose stools in one day, with or without fever) within the last 24-48 hours
• Vomiting within the last 24 hours
• A rash of any kind with or without fever (unless a doctor’s note is provided that states your child is not contagious)
• Severe coughing or sneezing that is disruptive to your child’s learning or that of the other children in the classroom
• Sore throats with marked redness and/or white spots.
  • If your child is diagnosed with strep throat, he/she needs to have taken antibiotics for at least 24 hours before returning to school.
• Any sticky or colored drainage from the eyes with redness of the “white part” of the eye could mean that your child has pinkeye (conjunctivitis), which is highly contagious.
  • Your child can return after treatment with prescribed eye drops for 24 hours.
• Colored drainage from the nose
• Skin lesions that are “weepy” (pus or fluid-filled)
• Severe episodes of asthma, including shortness of breath
• Extreme fatigue

What symptoms are acceptable for my child to have and still go to school?

• Earaches in the absence of fever (they are not contagious)
• Mild cold or respiratory symptoms if nasal drainage is clear and the cough is mild
• Seasonal allergies
• Mild sore throats without fever, marked redness or white spots
• Headaches in the absence of other symptoms

An acute viral infection that is characterized by fever, malaise, sore throat, "swollen glands," enlarged spleen and liver. There is a wide spectrum in the severity of symptoms. Sometimes symptoms may be so mild that many people don't even realize they have had it. Interestingly, 90% of adults will test positive for the Epstein Barr Virus, yet most of those people can't remember having "mono." Adults are often misdiagnosed if they do have mononucleosis when they present with symptoms due to the rarity of infection in the adult population. I am often asked if a person can get mono more than once. True Mononucleosis is thought to be caused by the Epstein Barr Virus. However, other "bugs" can cause similar symptoms; hence the confusion. Dr. Virginia Kaperick, a pediatric hospitalist at Lake Forest Hospital, states that the "greatest majority of cases are caused by EBV(Epstein-Barr Virus). Other pathogens can cause mono-like illness: CMV (Cytomegalovirus), Adenoviruses, HSV (Herpes Simplex Virus), Toxoplasma, etc. Transmission is through saliva of an infected person throughout the duration of symptoms: there is no air or blood transmission. Many healthy people can carry and shed the virus intermittently for life."

The treatment of routine cases would consist of

1. rest according to the degree of illness until the fever is gone.
2. Plenty of liquids.
3. Tylenol or Advil for elevated temperature or discomfort.
4. Warm saline gargles.
5. No contact sports.
6. Antibiotics only if there is a Strep infection which happens in 10-30% of cases.
7. Steroids are only used if there are life threatening threats of airway obstruction

(Recent studies have linked their use to encephalitis and myocarditis.)

Student athletes should only return to sports or PE class when they have been cleared by their doctor. The main concern here is a decreased immune system and an enlarged spleen and liver which could become injured during contact sports.

Illinois State Code requires a physical exam and immunization record for all incoming freshman students be submitted to the LFHS nurse’s office by the first day of school.  The exam should be on the State of Illinois Certificate of Child Health Examination form and must be dated within 12 months of the first day of school of their freshman year. Exam is to be performed by a licensed health care provider (MD, DO, APN, or PA). 

Any student who does not have a physical on file by October 15th will be excluded from school on that date.  We can no longer accept a physician appointment card for a physical scheduled after October 15th.  Sport physicals do not meet the freshman physical requirement.

Illinois School Code will now require student entering 9th grade to have dental examination before May 15th of their freshman school. Year.  Dental exam must have been completed within the 18 months prior to the May 15th deadline. 

DO NOT TURN INCOME FRESHMAN PHYSICAL INTO THE ATHLETIC OFFICE.  The Health Office will forward a list of all compliant student s to the Athletic Office in time for the first day of sports.

From an Illinois high school: Students must present a copy of their 9th grade physical exam and immunization record to the LFHS nurse’s office within 30 days of their entrance date. A more current complete physical with updated immunizations is also accepted. Sport physicals do not meet this requirement.

From another state or military base:  Students have 30 days to present a copy of their high school physical exam with updated immunizations as long as the form contains all required parts of the Illinois state form (link).  If the previous high school did not require a physical, students have 30 days to submit a current physical and immunization record that must be dated within 12 months of the first day of school for the new student and must contain all required parts of the Illinois state form.  An eye exam performed by an optometrist or ophthalmologist dated within one year of the first day of school is also required.  Submit records to the LFHS nurse’s office within 30 days of entrance date.  Sport physicals do not meet this requirement.

From another country:  Students have 30 days to complete a physical exam with updated immunizations on the Illinois state form (link).  If submitting a prior physical, the exam must be dated within 12 months of the first of school for the new student and must contain all required parts of the Illinois state form.  An eye exam performed by an optometrist or ophthalmologist dated within one year of the first day of school is also required.  Submit records to the LFHS nurse’s office within 30 days of entrance date.  A sport physical does not meet this requirement.