Sick Kids in School

[Veronica]

Drives me crazy when parents send their kids who are coughing or sneezing constantly (not from allergies) to school.

Let's just spread all those germs around to everyone else.

Veronica

[ny biker]

I feel your pain. Drives me crazy when sick co-workers cough their germs all over. Sometimes I just want to spray Lysol over everyone.

[limewave]

My boss keeps boxes of lysol and clorox wipes in her office. And she DOES follow people around spraying lysol. It's pretty funny.

[OakLeaf]

It's got to be tough with middle school kids.

<tremorous old lady voice>In myyyyyy day, once I turned ten, if I was sick I stayed home. </voice> Nowadays CSB gets called when a ten-year-old or even a 13-year-old is home alone (seen it happen more than once, and they DO follow through with neglect charges). Most parents don't have paid FMLA leave, and paid or not, they need a doctor's slip. Who's going to pay for an office visit when it's obvious the kid just has a cold? Cheaper to be docked a day's pay, except that of course it makes it that much likelier they'll get fired for excessive absence. :(

I feel your pain V. At least every sneeze can be a teachable moment. :p:rolleyes: Do you at least have a handwashing sink in your classroom?

[Veronica]

I feel your pain V. At least every sneeze can be a teachable moment. :p:rolleyes: Do you at least have a handwashing sink in your classroom?

We do have a sink. But imagine 32 kids trying to use it. Seriously, I have 6 in my room today who should be washing their hands every 3 minutes.

Veronica

[MommyBird]

Everywhere I go I see those free standing hand sanitizer dispensers.
After greeting time in church the whole sanctuary smell like the stuff.

Yesterday my husband drove to Columbia, SC to meet with an engineering firm about a project. The first guy sneezed into his hand as he was standing up and still held out his hand! Hubby chose not to be rude and shook it, but with mental reservations. Business opportunities are slim these days, you don't want to appear disrespectful to a potential client! To add insult to injury, the next guy refused to shake Dave's hand. I personally do not blame him after witnessing the sneeze.

[Veronica]

Everywhere I go I see those free standing hand sanitizer dispensers.


Yeah, but they are not free. :D California schools are in a world of hurt right now financially. I'm not even making extra copies of things for my kids who lose stuff anymore. "Sorry dude, you lost it, no extra copes, you're getting a zero."

Sounds harsh, but again I have 5 - 10 kids who lose something every week. Copy costs add up.

Veronica

[ACG]

Raised two kids, now adults, sort of, in college. Now on my third, she's 7. She has allergies. We keep her home if she has a fever. She uses the hand sanitzer so much her skin is raw, now I make her use lotion after the sanitzer.

I donate to the teacher and the daycare the hand sanitizer, tissues, paper and anything else I can think of. Always have. In the beginning of the year I ask them for a wish list, then ask again mid year. They appreciate it.

I sympathize with people who work and maybe they feel like if the kid is that sick the school will call them? Which is a total waste of everyone's time and energy I know.

Do you know how hard it is to find babysitters, people are still being picky and I'm paying them!!!! grrrr. okay, enough said.

Sorry you've got a bunch of sickies. And bravo, if they loose it too bad, this is life, they have to keep on top of thier stuff themselves.

[MommyBird]

Schools are not a place I frequent.
We home school.

Try to look on the bright side, your financially forced responsibility lesson could benefit a student or two.

[sfa]

How sick is sick, though? The problem with most viruses - the "common cold" that runs rampant in schools and offices this time of year - is that you're contagious from a day before you have any symptoms until all of your symptoms are gone. Since most of these viruses last about a week or ten days, you're talking about kids missing a week or more of school and adults missing work for that long when a) they already transmitted it to everyone before they knew they were sick and b) except for being stuffy and coughing and sneezing, they feel fine. Perfectly capable of doing their work and paying attention. School aged kids get, on average, between seven and 12 colds a year. Do you really want them missing that much school?

So where do you draw the line? The rule in our schools is that you have to stay home for 24 hours after you've had a fever or have thrown up. If I had to keep my son out of school every time he had a cold, he'd be out of school a lot more than he's in (he has a primary immune deficiency disorder, so he gets colds and they last a month or more, until they finally turn into a secondary infection and we can treat with antibiotics. Until that point, though, it's just a cold and nothing can be done about it). I checked with the school system about getting him "home and hospital" services for when he was sick so that he COULD stay home and not infect other people, but they didn't go for it. So I follow the fever/vomiting rule and only keep him out with a cold if I think that he's too sick to learn--if he hasn't been sleeping because of a cough, or is just so physically miserable that he needs rest and no stimulation, or if he's not eating well because of his cold.

Sarah

[Veronica]

I wouldn't send a kid to school who was coughing or sneezing every few minutes. You're not here to hear my one kid who sounds like he's hacking up a lung and has his head down because it hurts.

And as the teacher, I'd like those kids to be home, since I don't want to be out sick. No matter how good the sub, they don't do as good a job teaching as I do.

Veronica

[sfa]

Yeah, a kid who hurts so much that he can't keep his head up should be at home. Can't you call the school nurse and have her call one of the parents?

Sarah

[Veronica]

School nurse??????? That would be me or our beleagured office workers.

Veronica

[Tri Girl]

I feel your pain. This year I became a librarian, and I now have not only the regular 26 kids in my room that I used to have, but the WHOLE school rotates through my library twice a week. That's 800 germy little ones in my classroom weekly. EEK! I'm not a germaphobe, but I do wipe down with clorox wipes or spray with clorox spray at LEAST once a week. Ick!

What especially grosses me out is the little ones who touch all the books with the hands you JUST saw them pick their nose with. ewww ;)

I feel bad for the ones who are clearly sick, but are at school. You know they're miserable and would rather be in bed. Poor little ones (but I understand sometimes parents can't miss work to keep them home). So hard.

[Crankin]

Well, I have to say I have been much healthier since I quit teaching. But even I made mistakes in when to keep my kids home or send to school. One day, Scott, age 8, told me his "bones hurt." DH was out of town and I was stressed. I said, "Get dressed, you're going. I can't stay home another day" (the other one had just been home 2 days). Two hours later I got a call from the nurse, saying he had a fever and was really sick. I worked really, really far from where I lived and their school was another 10 miles from my house. By the time I got him, went to the doctor and was waiting for the prescription at the pharmacy, he was lying on the floor in the store, moaning his head off, with a 104 degree fever and bronchitis. So I listened after that!
I *did* let them stay home alone with a mild cold after age 10. Well, I let the older one stay home at age 10, and I just checked on him every hour by phone. Scott was maybe 12 when I let him do that. He once called me when he was a freshman in HS and had stayed home, saying he "couldn't breathe." I ran out of my classroom so fast, the kids wondered where I went; I got an assistant from the special ed room to teach my class and told my boss I was leaving. I didn't give her time to even question me... he ended up having pneumonia (from riding when he was just a little sick, which turned into big sick).

[MommyBird]

I have been so blessed to be able to stay home with my boys.
One advantage to home schooling is that your child does not need to lose an entire day of learning every time they are not well. Sick enough to stay home and not expose others is not always too sick to learn.
Plus, you can easily salvage those days when they are ill in the morning but perk up in the afternoon.
We only have one more year of schooling. It has been an exciting ride.

[michelem]

I so hear you! My DH works with middle schoolers (60+ per day). Due to the CA financial crisis, a whole program above his is being cut and those people are getting the option of taking the layoff or bumping those immediately below (which, would include my DH). :(

This past week he came home with a sinus/chest cold as well as pink eye. Unfortunately, due to the fact that he is in a low-income, "at risk" school/area these parents (caregivers, really -- it's rare to find kids in that school with two parents, and even one is stretching it) don't really have any other options for their kids besides sending them to school/after-school program even when they are sick. :(

For all the problems though, he loves getting to make a difference in these rugrats' lives each day. :o

[michelem]

School nurse??????? That would be me or our beleagured office workers.

Veronica

Hah hah! That is what my DH says, "I AM the school nurse, and the custodian, and the principal . . . ." :rolleyes:

[Selkie]

V and other teachers --- I don't know how you do it. Can you have the kids sent home or is there a designated "sick room" at school where they can be "stored" until dismissal time? ;-)

Sickies coming into work (school) and sharing their bugs ticks me off to no end. The office in which I office is filled with people who don't believe in using their sick leave (trust me, we get plenty of sick leave and can actually "borrow" against our yearly allotment, if necessary). I'm not ashamed to admit that I spray Lysol---the doofus who sits closest to me seems to get a bad cold at least once a month. Keeping my immune system strong (drink Kefir every day, take extra C and some L-Lysine) and remembering NOT to touch my mouth, nose and eyes seems to help. I also have a bottle of hand sanitizer and a tub of Clorox wipes at my desk.

[malkin]

As some of you know I work at a school for kids with autism...we are constantly trying to teach kids to cover coughs and sneezes, with limited success as you may well imagine.

Yesterday one kid took a big pre-sneeze breath...AH AH... and then grabbed a teacher by the wrist and...CHOO...sneezed right into her hand.

Classic!

[OakLeaf]

Malkin, yuck! :p

Then there are always these (http://www.giantmicrobes.com/us/products/soapdispenser.html) (it's a rhinovirus):

http://www.giantmicrobes.com/us/files/images/productthumbnails2/soap_dispenser_detail.jpg

Funny, instructive and a great reminder to wash your hands. DH got a round of them for everyone we know as stocking stuffers this holiday season. :D

[solobiker]

I don't work in a school but several of the people I share an office with come in with colds or other issues. Drives me crazy. Our office is small and we have to share desk space and chairs when we have to do paperwork. People think I am funny because for lunch I only bring foods that I can eat with utensils so that avoids my hands touching what I am going to eat (even though I was my hands too many times to count). I don't want to risk getting their germs.

I work in healthcare so it is frustrating for me to see staff members come in when they are sick. The patients are already sick and having to deal with other issues without having to deal with catching someone else's cold or flu.

[malkin]

Giant Microbes is now on my list of places to shop!

[Running Mommy]

We had H1N1 run rampant through our school this year. Most kids were out at a week minimum, and many kids are on their second or third bout of the flu.
Running son had it and was out a solid week.
I - along with all the other parents- got a nasty gram in the mail threatening us because our kids have missed too much school this year?!
It was a warning that we would be fined or worse- have charges filed against us??!!!
So I marched into the office with the letter that I still had lying around from earlier in the year imploring parents to keep sick kids home, and the threat letter. I probably could have handled it better, but I let the principal have it. I then proceeded to email the district and state supe's. Come to find out- it's a freaking AZ LAW!!!! If the kid has xx amount of missed days, for any reason- the letter goes out.
Sometimes I hate this freaking state! And to think I left California for something "better"... sigh...

[moonfroggy]

California has similar laws about how many days kids can miss. or it did when i was in school that was a while ago though.

[kenyonchris]

As a cop, I became a total germaphobe a la Monk. People would hand me their driver's license and I would think...gross. But here is the cake....

I was driving northbound on patrol, saw a truck heading southbound...three shoes came flying out of the truck (yes, three, I found the fourth in the truck later). I turned around on the truck and finally got it pulled over in the parking lot of the high school...it was lunchtime and the kid was going back. We went through the rigamarole as to why he was throwing his shoes out the window (never really found out)...in the end, the kid was 18 and had a warrant out for burglary of a hab. So I hooked him up, searched him (went through his pockets and exterior garments, removed the items from his jacket, etc.) and stuck him in my car. I searched the vehicle incident to arrest and went through his personal effects as he told me he had a pipe in there. Found the pipe, touched the pipe. Finally transported the kid to the jail, helped him out of the car (touching his arm), searched him again in the jail, unhandcuffed him, put my cuffs back in my cuff case (I always wipe them off), and released him to the jailer. He sat down on the bench and started to answer the jailers routine book in questions while I sat down to type out my paperwork...I was listening only out of one ear. When the jailer asked if he had any communicable diseases, he stated he had, "full body herpes." I about left my seat. I don't even know what "full body herpes" is, but it didn't sound good. "Dude, whatever," I said, "you think you might have told me that when I was searching you?" He says, "well, you didn't ask" (I have to remind myself that a) he was throwing shoes out of his vehicle in the first place, b) he is 18, and c) a criminal. I had to go take a Karen Silkwood shower.....I found out later that he meant "shingles." Gross anyway. I got the lecture about wearing gloves when searching someone. Blech.

[shootingstar]

So kenyon, that maybe why some of us see shoe here and there on the road while we're cycling... runaway robbers, criminals. And it's not baby shoes where child loses it by accident.

Who knew. Things that one learns on TE forums. ;) I've always wondered why would there be shoes along a road.

[kenyonchris]

So kenyon, that maybe why some of us see shoe here and there on the road while we're cycling... runaway robbers, criminals. And it's not baby shoes where child loses it by accident.

Who knew. Things that one learns on TE forums. ;) I've always wondered why would there be shoes along a road.

I was so miffed at the full body herpes thing that in addition to arresting him on the warrant, I also charged him with illegal dumping...which is the HSC offense, as opposed to the city ordinance violation...for tossing the shoes out.

[OakLeaf]

Yikes. :eek::eek::p


Still (apart from the "full body herpes") it's a relatively benign way for shoes to get on the road. I've read many times that most shoes on the road are the result of accidents - they tend to come off people's feet and get left behind when the EMTs cart them away. :( I wonder if that's really true.

[sfa]

How about sick kids on bus trips?

DD woke up with a headache yesterday morning. We were scheduled to go with a group to New York for the day. She was in a lot of pain. I gave her Advil, told her that if she was really feeling that bad, maybe we should stay home. She wanted to go--it was just a headache.

Got to the bus, she was feeling lots better. Good decision. Glad we didn't stay home.

Three hours later, about an hour out of NY, she developed a fever. By the time we arrived, she was miserable, aching all over, exhausted, just wanted to go home. She wanted a nice warm bed. Instead we were stuck in the city for the next seven hours and it was chilly and a bit blustery and my guide book didn't have a section on "where to go when your child feels like crap and isn't even interested in the stuffed animals at FAO Schwartz so you know she's REALLY sick."

She did perk up for a little bit in the mid-afternoon, but mostly it was just seven hours of suffering. And I don't feel any better knowing we probably exposed the whole bus to this thing (although she kept entirely to herself, didn't interact with any of the other kids, and stayed seated the whole time, so that minimized exposure).

Sarah

[malkin]

"Full body herpes" *eye roll*
Get ready for MRSA!