Reply to A plea: please stop sending your sick kids to school

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]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). [b]You gotta let them heal completely. [/b]

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. 
[/quote]

[b]The bolded is where you are going to get the most pushback, even from parents who are very conscientious about keeping sick kids at home. The stuff that's circulating now? Kids don't "heal completely" FOR WEEKS.

OP, be specific -- are you asking parents to keep children home for 10-15 days, maybe even as much as a month, until the are 100% better, before returning to school? What are you actually asking?[/b]

Also, this is a collective action problem too. Last year I kept my kid home a ton because between Covid and just heightened fears around illness, I didn't want her at school with a cough or runny nose even if they were just residual symptoms of something I didn't believe to be contagious. I really didn't want to get anyone sick. Guess what would happen every time I finally sent her back? She'd get sick almost immediately because no one else was keeping their kid home like I was.

Keeping your kid home for everything don'ts actually "break the cycle" of contagious because no one else does it. Everyone still gets sick (including your kid), it's just that they are all in class while your kid is missing tons of school. It winds up burdening just the parents who are trying to be responsible.

So this year I'm sending her back in sooner and just accepting she'll be sniffly/coughing at school a bit. She's already missed 10+ days this year, are you really suggesting I should have kept her home more than that because of that cough she had that lingered for weeks and weeks?[/quote]

I'm saying keep them home until they're obviously on a road to recovery. Because what my colleagues and I are seeing, are the SAME kids who are sick--and definitely sick. Parents yell at the nurse or teachers when they pick them up. Kid shows up to school the next day. Misses one. Comes in for 2-3. Misses another. Comes in for 3-4. Misses 1-2. It's very, very evident to us that it's a 1-step forward 1-step back situation. I KNOW it's hard to stay home from work for 3-4 days in a row to really give your child a chance to rest and recover, but this yo-yo-ing is not good for anyone, least of all your kid. No one's saying to keep your kid out for weeks because of a cold, but dear god give them a few continuous days to recover (without being at the peak of being contagious) so the cycle can slow down at least.
[/quote]

At our school the parents who do this are pretty obviously working jobs where staying home for 3-4 days actually is a major hardship. Especially when you remember that since their kid is sick, they probably are too. These are single parents or parents working hourly jobs where they either don't get sick leave or it can be hard to use their leave.

I know it sucks and yes, it impacts everyone -- often it's a kid like this who gets my kid sick and necessitates us keeping her home for 3-4 days which, while doable for me, is still hard. But I also recognize that these parents are not just trying to torture their sick children -- they are trying to pay the rent.

I think the solution in this situation is let the kid sit in the corner of the classroom away from other kids with a water bottle and their head down, or send them to the nurse. If the parents will pick up, great, but the reality is that we live in this stupid country where so many people live paycheck to paycheck with minimal leave. Honestly, on some level it's only fair that those of us in better economic situations have to suffer along with them. This is the world we made for ourselves.

Vote for universal health care and paid leave requirements. Vote that worker protections that will prevent people from being laid off or stealth fired for missing a week of work while their kid is sick. Vote for politicians who while adequately staff enforcement agencies to ensure that even existing protections for workers are enforced. But you can't ask someone who is barely hanging on at work to miss a full week of income, or risk losing their job. Even if it's for a child who clearly needs to be at home. We need better solutions than that.[/quote]

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