Health Services

Each MMSD School is served by a School nurse (RN) and a nurse assistant.

As part of the Student Services Teams in schools, School Nurses provide a holistic health perspective related to the physical, mental and social emotional health of students. The School Nurse is responsible for coordinating and managing health needs of individual students during the school day as well as promoting health and safety for all students.
Nurse Assistants care for ill and injured students, complete clerical work and carry out delegated nursing activities (such as giving medications) under the clinical supervision of the school nurse.
The Lead Nurses are responsible for orientating, educating, and coaching nurses and nurse’s assistants. Each lead nurse is involved in program planning and implementation.
The Assistant Director of Health Services is responsible for planning, overseeing health services budget, quality assurance, staffing, and supervises school nurses and nurse assistant.

School Nurse Contact

Locate your school nurse’s name, telephone number and fax number by clicking on this link: School Nurse Contact Information

Respiratory Virus Health & Safety

In March of 2024, The CDC released updated respiratory guidance aligning COVID-19 guidance with that of flu and RSV. Testing is no longer required. Those experiencing symptoms of respiratory illness should stay home until they have been fever-free without the use of fever-reducing medications for 24 hours AND have improvement of other symptoms. Once returning to normal activities (including school), your child should take added precautions over the next 5 days to avoid getting those around them sick, including washing or sanitizing hands often, and masking.

When planning activities for your family, consider using the Respiratory Illness Dashboard | Public Health Madison & Dane County dashboard to assess your risk of getting sick. View CDC Guidance if you are at risk for severe illness from respiratory viruses.

Health Conditions

Asthma

Concussion

Management of Concussion in the School Setting

Dental Services

Celebrate Smiles - Calendar

Diabetes

Head-Lice

What Parents Need to Know About Head Lice

Life-Threatening Allergies

Contact

Vacant, Assistant Director of Health Services

Kari Stampfli, Nurse Coach
Employee Health & Communicable Disease
Phone: 608-663-8427
Email: kcstampfli@madison.k12.wi.us

Mandy Monson, Nurse Coach
Phone: 608-663-8424
Email: amonson@madison.k12.wi.us

Sara Hayes, Nurse Coach
Special Education & 504
Phone: 608-663-8463
Email: sjtoney@madison.k12.wi.us

Laurel Cornelius, Nurse Coach
Phone: 608-204-1408
Email: alcornelius@madision.k12.wi.us

Illness Guidelines

Deciding to Stay Home or Go to School

Illness – Keeping a Child Home from School

It is not always easy to decide if your child is sick enough to stay home or well enough to be in school. Children who come to school are expected, with few exceptions, to participate fully in school activities. When a child’s illness prevents them from participating in school activities or when their illness poses a risk of spread of harmful disease to others, they should stay home. For specific guidance about your child, contact your school nurse.

If your child will not be attending school for any reason, it is very important for you to call and notify the school office of the reason for the absence. In addition, please notify the school nurse if you have been advised to stay home by the medical provider or public health. The school nurse will be notified of the absence and may call you for further information. This helps us to keep track of illnesses among our students. It also helps us be assured that your child is safe at home.

If a student has an injury that interferes with participation in physical education class for more than three days, an excuse or recommendation for activity from a health care provider is needed.

Here are some recommendations of when to keep your child home.

Fever: A fever of 100.4 degrees or more signals an illness that is probably going to make a student uncomfortable and unable to function well in class.
Vomiting (2 or more times in the previous 24 hours), Diarrhea or Severe Nausea that makes the student uncomfortable and unable to function well in class.
Rashes with fever or with behavioral changes such as being unusually tired or irritable.
Bad or persistent cough or difficulty breathing.

When advised by Public Health and/or CDC to stay home or your medical provider We encourage you to seek medical attention when your child is sick and to follow your health care provider’s recommendations about returning to school and other social activities.

The following guidelines indicate when students can return to school.

Please contact your school nurse to discuss when your child may return to school.

Strep throat: 24 hours after starting antibiotics & after two doses of an antibiotic
Chicken Pox: after all lesions have dried Pertussis: after 5 days of antibiotic treatment
Other bacterial infections: usually 24 hours after starting antibiotics Fever free without the use of fever reducing medication for 24 hours

Child at desk coloring with a marker with a mask on their face

Immunization Requirements

Wisconsin Immunization Law

All students attending Wisconsin Schools must show evidence of having received at least minimum protection against certain vaccine preventable communicable diseases. School vaccine requirements are minimum requirements and do not include all of the immunizations that are recommended for children. Your health care provider can give you information about all recommended immunizations. MMSD may be able to automatically obtain your child's immunization record directly through the Wisconsin Immunization Registry (WIR) if you indicate during the school registration process that you allow release of your child's immunization record. Your child's school nurse will review your child's immunization record and contact you if your child does not meet the minimum requirements for his or her grade level.

Here are some resources for more information:

Wisconsin Department of Health Services Student Immunization Law Age/Grade Requirements
Printable Wisconsin Immunization Record Form
Online Student Immunization Record Form
Wisconsin Immunization Registry (WIR)
Immunization Clinics - Public Health Madison & Dane County
Making the Vaccine Decision: Addressing Common Concerns
Common Questions about Vaccines

Medication at School

Guidelines for Medication at School

If you would like your child to receive any medication (even over-the-counter medication) at school, you will need to provide the school nurse with the following items:

A parent/guardian consent form. This is your permission for school staff to administer medication to your child.

A written medical order from your child’s Health Care Provider.
Prescription medication must come packaged with the prescription label that contains the child's name, name of the medication and dosage, time to be given and practitioner's name.
Over-the-counter medication must come to school in the original manufacturer packaging.

Safety in Buildings

Safety in our School Buildings

We've made several adjustments in preparation for students and staff to return to buildings. Some of those are outlined below and in the MMSD Covid-19 Building Analysis Final Report.

Air Quality

In November our school board approved a proposal for nearly $300,000 in medical-grade filters in all our buildings' air handling systems. In addition, we have adjusted our HVAC settings so that we are getting as much fresh air into buildings as possible. In winter, this means we need to burn a bit more natural gas to keep buildings warm, but we are doing everything we can to bring as much fresh air in.

Every 10 minutes, the entire volume of each classroom's air is circulated and filtered. We have adjusted the system to allow for even more fresh air to enter the system by flushing the air two hours prior to 6:00 a.m. and for 2 hours again at the end of each day.

Water Safety

Stagnant water can be a concern when a building's water systems are not in use, so we have followed procedures for ensuring sure our water is safe. Based on recommendations from the CDC, Public Health Madison & Dane County, and ESPRI (Environmental Science, Policy, and Research Institute), MMSD has developed an Unoccupied Domestic Water Flushing Procedure that is being performed every two weeks during periods when buildings have little water usage.

This procedure is designed to flush out all stagnant water from the plumbing system. Shower heads, faucets, sprayers, and aerators are also cleaned during each plumbing system flush.

Cleaning and Disinfecting

Custodial and Maintenance staff will continue “high touch-point” cleaning as be part of our daily routine.

Classroom floors will be wet mopped a minimum of twice per week and spot mopped daily as needed. All classrooms have been outfitted with classroom cleaning kits which will be restocked on a daily basis by our custodians.

Select a School

Elementary Schools

Middle Schools

High Schools