When are kids too sick for school?
Help keep students and staff safe by limiting the spread of infectious illnesses and keeping your child home from school when they are sick. Students should stay home if:
- They are too sick to participate in normal activities
- They need a level of care or observation not manageable at school
- They create an unhealthy or unsafe environment for others
If students have respiratory virus symptoms, including cough, fever or chills, health care authorities recommend students return to normal activities when both of the following are true for at least 24 hours:
- Symptoms are getting better overall, and
- No fever (and not using fever-reducing medication)
Use the guides below to help decide when your child needs to stay home from school and which illnesses require them to stay home from school.
Need health care resources?
MultiCare and SeaMar each offer a school-based health clinic to all Tacoma Public Schools students.