Health & Safety Guidelines

Criteria Used to Send an Ill Child Home

Students must remain at home if they are ill. The School will ask you to take your child home or keep them home if we believe they are ill, need to see a doctor, or may be contagious.

Criteria Used to Send a Child Home

If your child exhibits any symptoms of illness, please keep them home and contact your doctor for evaluation as needed. If a student becomes sick during the day, their parent will be contacted by the Front Office for immediate pick-up within the hour. Upon arrival, parents should pick up their child at the Front Office. 

Criteria Used to Keep an Ill Child Home

If in the last 24 hours, they have experienced any of the following, they should remain at home:

As a general rule, please keep your child at home if they are not feeling well.

Criteria Used to Send a Formerly Ill Child Back to School

If a student or staff member tests positive for COVID-19

Following the CDC’s updated guidelines regarding COVID-19, Oneness-Family School students and staff who test positive will no longer need to isolate for five days.

As with flu and other respiratory illnesses, students should remain home when they feel sick but may return when their symptoms have abated and they have been fever-free (without using fever medication) for 24 hours. It is recommended that students and staff take added precautions over the next 5 days to limit the spread of illness, such as wearing a mask, washing hands regularly, physical distancing, and testing.

Above all, we ask that families keep students home when they feel sick, so that we limit the spread of illness within our community.

For questions on our updated COVID-19 protocol, please email schoolhealth@onenessfamily.org.

If a student or staff member comes into close contact with a person who has tested positive for COVID-19

As we have now reached a place where COVID-19 is now an illness in a similar category as our regular illnesses (the flu, common cold, strep, etc.), we have stepped down our close contact policies.

If a student or staff member comes into close contact with a person who has tested positive for COVID-19 they may remain on campus as long as they do not present any symptoms. The added precautions that were previously required – masking and taking a home test on Day 5 – are now optional.

For example, if an Academy classroom member tests positive, the classroom community will be notified, and parents and staff will have the option to wear a mask and/or test on Day 5.

The school will continue to notify parents  of any positive cases in our community.

COVID-19 Testing

As of March 13, 2023, the school will no longer require school-wide testing after breaks.

Staff and students should test at home if they have any cold symptoms or if they have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive. Home rapid tests may be used for this purpose. If there is a positive test, the individual should stay home and follow our positive case protocol (above). Please get in touch with the school at schoolhealth@onenessfamily.org if your child has tested positive.

We will not be conducting PCR testing on campus this year, but we do have a robust supply of rapid antigen tests that we can use for exposures and also if a student becomes ill during a school day. We request that you have tests on hand in case your child develops symptoms or has an exposure.

Medication Administration

Respecting your wishes with regard to your child’s health, we consider the dispensation of medications, homeopathic remedies, ointments, tinctures, and vitamins to be taken very seriously. On Student Information & Release (Form C) you can check off the items that you feel are appropriate for your child to be given. 

All medications brought to school for students to take during the day must be given to the Front Office Staff by the parent or guardian along with the proper medical forms. Do not send any medications to school in your child’s backpack. Properly-trained, certified personnel will dispense the medication to the child, writing down the dosage, date, and time on the Medication Administration Authorization form log. Students may not administer their own medication. 

Prescription Medication

Prescription medications must be accompanied by a Medication Administration Authorization Form (Form E) to be filled out by the doctor and the parent outlining the instructions for dispensation and dosage. Medicine needs to be in its original package. Epi-pens should be brought on all field trips and kept in the front office. Over-the-counter medications, homeopathic medicines, vitamins, cough drops, etc. also need to be left in the School office and accompanied by a Medication Administration Authorization form. 

Medical Intervention

All members of the School Staff are trained in Red Cross First Aid, CPR and Epipen techniques. During the school day, at least one First Aid and CPR trained Staff member is available at all times. 

The faculty and staff treat minor accidents, cuts, scrapes, and bruises. If the cuts, scrapes or bruises are on the face or head, the parents will be notified.

For the students suffering from seasonal allergies, if you wish the School to dispense any medications (over the counter or prescription) during the school day, please have a doctor fill out the appropriate Medication Administration Authorization (Form E) for each medication. 

For the students who may be anaphylactic to their allergens, all epi-pens will be stored in the Front Office. The appropriate faculty leading the off-campus excursions will carry these medications. All student medications must be returned to the office in their original packaging and must be accompanied by Form E – Medication Administration Authorization, which has been signed by a parent and a doctor. 

In the event of student illness, the School notifies the parent(s). If the parent requests a telephone conversation with the child, this is arranged. 

Should a student suffer a more serious injury, the staff is trained to respond appropriately until an ambulance arrives. In the event that your child requires emergency service, you will be notified immediately. If you are enrolled in a health plan that requires your child to be treated at a specific hospital, please state your preference on your Student Information & Release (Form C). Hospital administrators inform us that they hold treatment (except in grave situations) until the parents arrive. Therefore, it is essential that we have your child’s Emergency Information on file with current phone numbers (home, cell and work) and e-mail for both parents and other caregivers.  Any changes in these numbers or addresses should be reported to the School immediately.