Couple things:

(1) I keep my kid home when they are very unwell. But by Day 4/5 I have to start looking at how they can go back. For me, for them. The school is also harassing me by that point, btw, even if I've explained they are sick. I may send them back while they are still coughing a lot or with a suspected ear infection (that we are treating) because they are not contagious (per doctor) and are feeling well enough that they are bouncing off the walls at home. If all you hear/see is the cough or my kid saying their ear hurts, you might assume I'm just packing them off to school without a thought. But I've actually kept them home through the actual illness and you are just seeing some lingering symptoms that might take weeks to resolve. I cannot keep my child home for weeks.

(2) For younger kids (under age 7/8) keeping them home is a massive burden. I've done it all this fall -- used my own sick leave, WFH while caring for a sick kid, hired someone to watch my sick kid. It's hard. A major reason I'm sending my kid to school with that lingering (but yes, hacking) cough is to make it possible for me to finagle one of these solutions the next time the are sick enough to need to stay home. These kids require full-time supervision, especially when sick. I have to send them to school when they are well enough to realistically get through the day without infecting others or being miserable. Even if they aren't technically 100%.

(3) You know full well that after a certain amount of missed school, the kids regress academically. You've seen it, I've seen it. We're already coming off major regressions due to Covid closures. There comes a point in keeping your kid home where they are clearly not in need of more rest and you start to worry they are falling behind. Some of us send our kids back to school because we are worried about the consequences of keeping them home until there is no trace of illness left. Is that worth my kid missing an entire unit of math or ELA? I don't think it is, especially when the worst is over in the first week.

My son (who has asthma and chronic sinus infections) missed 5 days of school last week due to a cold. He still has some congestion and cough, but no, I'm not keeping him home for 3 weeks every time he gets a cold.

Anonymous wrote:I am a teacher and I have to strongly disagree with you. Kids stay home for everything now. Kids are kids and everything hurts them too. Unless a fever or the child is visibility uncomfortable, they can power through. They can put their head on the desk if needed, have personal tissues, drink plenty of water. A cough that lasts for weeks does not mean they should stay home. Yes, I am a teacher and get sick too but guess what? That is what sick leave is for and it’s just part of the job.

But the domino effect of one sick kid knocking out a third or half the class is no big deal, in terms of missed work? Or a teacher missing days in a row and leaving it to a rando sub? You're out of your mind. That's not how you keep kids progressing in their learning.

Anonymous wrote:I am a teacher and I have to strongly disagree with you. Kids stay home for everything now. Kids are kids and everything hurts them too. Unless a fever or the child is visibility uncomfortable, they can power through. They can put their head on the desk if needed, have personal tissues, drink plenty of water. A cough that lasts for weeks does not mean they should stay home. Yes, I am a teacher and get sick too but guess what? That is what sick leave is for and it’s just part of the job.

Something tells me you don't work in lower elementary.

I did keep my kids home. I kept them home when they had low fevers and weren’t feeling well. Four/five/six days later, their fevers are gone and they feel back to normal, but they will have a lingering cough for at least a week, probably more. I’m not keeping them home for a non-contagious cough.

I teach preschool. There are 18 kids in the class. 2 weeks ago one child was out sick. She missed one day and returned with a cough. Parents insisted she was only coughing at school. Guess how many kids are now out sick (very sick)…13!
I have been in early childhood teaching for nearly 30 years and have never seen anything close to this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid has tested negative for everything and still is coughing three weeks in; this is lifetime pattern for him due to asthma. How long should I keep him out of school?

You don't actually know everything.

Bullshit. He has SOMETHING, just not what he's been tested for. Thanks for passing whatever it is along to others.

NP, but he's not contagious 3 weeks later with asthma. That's just lingering inflammation. You'd be back by then even with COVID.

Look, I don't send my kids if they feel badly, but if they have a runny nose with clear snot and are at normal energy levels, then they go. They've missed so much school that there's no way they're staying home for days at a time for the sniffles. I think it's a great idea to encourage masking for those kids, and I think the teachers at our school already do that.

NP and yup. One of my kids is chronically congested. Flonase takes care of it, but if we forget for a few days in a row he gets stuffy again - that’s just how he is (as per his pediatrician and allergist). I also don’t send my kids if they feel bad, or even if they feel fine but, say, puked the day before.

Honestly? People should have thought of the long-term consequences of keeping kids out of school as long as we did around here. When you stress the system as much as it was stressed, something has to give. You burned that bridge with over a year of remote, quarantining HEALTHY kids for 10 days, etc. Too bad, so sad.

Anonymous wrote:I am a teacher and I have to strongly disagree with you. Kids stay home for everything now. Kids are kids and everything hurts them too. Unless a fever or the child is visibility uncomfortable, they can power through. They can put their head on the desk if needed, have personal tissues, drink plenty of water. A cough that lasts for weeks does not mean they should stay home. Yes, I am a teacher and get sick too but guess what? That is what sick leave is for and it’s just part of the job.

I am this poster and I also want to add, nothing worse than having to catch a student up, individually, that has been absent for a week. It’s impossible!

I am a teacher and I have to strongly disagree with you. Kids stay home for everything now. Kids are kids and everything hurts them too. Unless a fever or the child is visibility uncomfortable, they can power through. They can put their head on the desk if needed, have personal tissues, drink plenty of water. A cough that lasts for weeks does not mean they should stay home. Yes, I am a teacher and get sick too but guess what? That is what sick leave is for and it’s just part of the job.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid has tested negative for everything and still is coughing three weeks in; this is lifetime pattern for him due to asthma. How long should I keep him out of school?

You don't actually know everything.

Bullshit. He has SOMETHING, just not what he's been tested for. Thanks for passing whatever it is along to others.

NP, but he's not contagious 3 weeks later with asthma. That's just lingering inflammation. You'd be back by then even with COVID.

Look, I don't send my kids if they feel badly, but if they have a runny nose with clear snot and are at normal energy levels, then they go. They've missed so much school that there's no way they're staying home for days at a time for the sniffles. I think it's a great idea to encourage masking for those kids, and I think the teachers at our school already do that.

Anonymous wrote:My kid has tested negative for everything and still is coughing three weeks in; this is lifetime pattern for him due to asthma. How long should I keep him out of school?

You don't actually know everything.

We do actually, because we know the kids that actually have asthma.

And we know which parents are bullshitting that their kid is just fine.

No one cares, OP. They will just openly say "I don't care if I get other kids or their families and teachers sick. Not my problem." They're gross.

Anonymous wrote:My kid has tested negative for everything and still is coughing three weeks in; this is lifetime pattern for him due to asthma. How long should I keep him out of school?

You don't actually know everything.

Bullshit. He has SOMETHING, just not what he's been tested for. Thanks for passing whatever it is along to others.

My kid has tested negative for everything and still is coughing three weeks in; this is lifetime pattern for him due to asthma. How long should I keep him out of school?

You don't actually know everything.

Look I get it, you need to work. So does everyone else. The system is strained with RSV, flu, strep, and covid. Schools have so many staff members and teachers out - they're not invincible. Your kid doesn't just have a little sniffles and it's not allergies - they're hacking their lungs out, have green snot falling from their nostrils, your write angry emails when we send them to the nurse, and your kids are suffering when you send them to school. They complain their throat hurts, ear hurts, and you keep sending them back when they're still sick (and contagious). You gotta let them heal completely.

You gotta break the cycle. We all have to do it. It sucks, but keep your sick kids home from school. Their chin strap of a mask doesn't do jack shit. You gotta keep them home. Please. I beg you.