Sick Kids in School

[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.

[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!

[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 . . . ."

[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.