Disease Prevention & Mitigation

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The health, safety, and welfare of our students and staff is our priority. By working together, we can educate and build awareness regarding illness in our community, encourage good hygiene, monitor wellness, and follow guidelines and protocols to ensure the best possible learning environment for students and the health of our staff and the whole community.

We know early detection is a significant part of any disease mitigation and Frisco ISD works closely with area health departments during times of heightened health concern. School nurses and other staff members play a vital role in identifying illness at its outset and following protocols is critical to controlling outbreaks.

Exclusion from School

Frisco ISD very strictly enforces guidelines regarding illness and when to stay home from school, and it takes parents and staff members working together to be successful.

Student or Staff Illness

All students and staff should stay home when feeling sick and individuals who come to school or work with symptoms of an illness may be isolated and sent home. Students and staff should not attend school in the following circumstances:

  • Signs of severe illness, including fever, irritability, difficulty breathing, crying that doesn’t stop with the usual comforting, or extreme sleepiness.

  • Diarrhea (3 or more episodes of loose stools in 24 hours). An individual must be diarrhea free for 24 hours without the use of diarrhea suppressing medications.

  • Vomiting two or more times in 24 hours, unless a physician feels the cause of vomiting is not an infectious disease and the individual is in no danger of becoming dehydrated. An individual should have one or two meals without vomiting before returning to school. A student or staff member may be sent home from school for vomiting one time.

  • Temperature of 100 degrees or above. An individual must have a temperature below 100 degrees for 24 hours before returning to school without taking a fever reducing medication.

  • Red eyes, usually with some discharge or crusting around eyes.  An individual may return to school as directed by a physician or local health authority, or until symptom free.  

  • Questionable rash until a physician has determined the rash is not caused by an infectious disease.

  • Known communicable disease must be treated for the appropriate amount of time as directed by a physician.

  • Recommendation of a physician or school nurse.

Please note: Parents must provide a completed Medication: Parent/Guardian Request Form to the school nurse before the nurse can administer any oral nonprescription medication such as Tylenol, Advil, Benadryl, and Tums while at school. Review the medication policy guidelines.

Campus Closures

Immediate closure and subsequent reopening of Frisco ISD campuses during periods of elevated disease activity may be necessary to maintain healthy school environments for Frisco ISD students and staff. 

The necessity for a campus closure will be determined by the illness-related absence rate. If 15% or more of a campus’ student population is absent for two consecutive days as the result of personal illness, the District may close a campus for a minimum of two days for disinfecting and to allow for illness-related absences to subside. The District will reevaluate the situation each evening to determine whether the closure should be extended.

Parents will be notified each evening prior to a school day that their campus is closed. Subsequent decisions to extend the closure or reopen the campus will be communicated each evening prior to a school day.

Hand Washing/Sanitizing

Frequent disinfection and hand sanitization will ensure health and wellness of students and staff.

Expectations

  • Alcohol-based hand sanitizer will be available at the main entry to the campus, in classrooms, in the cafeteria and in common areas throughout the campus.

  • Students and staff are expected to regularly wash or sanitize their hands.

  • Recommendations for hand washing and/or use of FISD-provided hand sanitizer:

    • Students can utilize provided hand sanitizer upon entry to classroom and will be provided periodic teacher reminders during the instructional day

    • Students will hand wash upon return from outdoors, before eating and following restroom breaks 

    • Students will utilize provided hand sanitizer upon boarding and exiting school bus

Campus Cleaning, Disinfecting, & Ventilation

All high touch surfaces will be cleaned and sanitized daily as part of standard cleaning procedures.

Illness-Related Cleaning

Campus staff will have access to appropriate cleaning supplies to clean classrooms and other school areas throughout the day.

Campus staff may request deep cleaning and disinfecting from custodial staff as needed. 

Ventilation

Frisco ISD facilities are equipped with heating and cooling and ventilation systems that cycle fresh air into the buildings 3-4 times throughout the day. This includes the use of high-grade filters to significantly reduce the number of particulates introduced into occupied space

Resources and Information