I really feel sorry for the sick kids sent to school. They should be in bed being loved on by a parent. Don’t have kids if you can’t take care of them. And don’t infect others. Common decency!

Elementary school teacher here --- today, I had one student who had an explosive diarrhea inside the classroom and another who vomited on the carpet. Both have been sick since Monday but have been to school every single day. I am feeling terrible this afternoon. guess I finally caught whatever they had

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach at the elementary level. Yesterday afternoon, I had a student repeatedly vomit in the classroom. I escorted the child to the health room and mom came to pick up the child from school. Well, the child was back in school today. The health tech called the parent who said the child felt better and “insisted” on coming to school today. Since the child didn’t have a fever, child was allowed to stay in school. There is a stomach virus going around the building. This wasn’t a case of the child ate something for lunch and it disagreed with them. This kid was vomiting large amounts over and over again. The child looked sick and miserable all day long. However, since child’s temperature was normal, there wasn’t a thing that could be done.

Parent won’t respond to phone calls, so I’m out of luck there.

Please keep your sick kids at home. Please.

I'm surprised. At our school, the child would be sent to the nurse's office to wait for pickup and they would keep calling the parent. And the child would be marked as out sick.

I also teach ES—my reaction to this chain of events would be to assume there’s a work-specific reason the parent can’t keep the child home. Two days left, OP. Two days.

Work-specific excuse - not an excuse in my book

Back up childcare is a must. It's just irresponsible of parents to assume the school will take care of their sick child. Find a sitter! Pay a stay-at-home mom to watch your kid. Take leave!

sorry - But we teachers are not babysitters.

LOL yeah no thank you. -SAHM

When I stayed home, I was back up for my friends. no shame in helping out, SAHM - I wasn't (and am still NOT) too good to help out when people are in a bind.

new poster, part time working mom- I have zero problem helping out in a bind! But if your kid is vomiting and having diarrhea, no, I am not going to take care of him in my home with my toddler all day and give my entire family the stomach flu for Christmas. There is no friend I love enough to do that for.

Anonymous wrote:I'm a middle school teacher at a W feeder and I have kids coming in feverish and snotty all the time. There are some kids who are just never out of class no matter how sick they are. You would think with the money to live in Bethesda these parents would have the ability to find childcare when their kids are miserably ill. On a related note, if you're looking for Christmas presents for your child's teachers -- send Lysol wipes.

I think we must work together at Pyle!

Dad does morning shift home, Mom does afternoon shift home.

Y’all should be senior enough in your careers to be able to swing that or find a job based in your values.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach at the elementary level. Yesterday afternoon, I had a student repeatedly vomit in the classroom. I escorted the child to the health room and mom came to pick up the child from school. Well, the child was back in school today. The health tech called the parent who said the child felt better and “insisted” on coming to school today. Since the child didn’t have a fever, child was allowed to stay in school. There is a stomach virus going around the building. This wasn’t a case of the child ate something for lunch and it disagreed with them. This kid was vomiting large amounts over and over again. The child looked sick and miserable all day long. However, since child’s temperature was normal, there wasn’t a thing that could be done.

Parent won’t respond to phone calls, so I’m out of luck there.

Please keep your sick kids at home. Please.

I'm surprised. At our school, the child would be sent to the nurse's office to wait for pickup and they would keep calling the parent. And the child would be marked as out sick.

I also teach ES—my reaction to this chain of events would be to assume there’s a work-specific reason the parent can’t keep the child home. Two days left, OP. Two days.

Work-specific excuse - not an excuse in my book

Back up childcare is a must. It's just irresponsible of parents to assume the school will take care of their sick child. Find a sitter! Pay a stay-at-home mom to watch your kid. Take leave!

sorry - But we teachers are not babysitters.

LOL yeah no thank you. -SAHM

When I stayed home, I was back up for my friends. no shame in helping out, SAHM - I wasn't (and am still NOT) too good to help out when people are in a bind.

That, and some people are happy to have the extra cash, even if they are less motivated by just helping out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach at the elementary level. Yesterday afternoon, I had a student repeatedly vomit in the classroom. I escorted the child to the health room and mom came to pick up the child from school. Well, the child was back in school today. The health tech called the parent who said the child felt better and “insisted” on coming to school today. Since the child didn’t have a fever, child was allowed to stay in school. There is a stomach virus going around the building. This wasn’t a case of the child ate something for lunch and it disagreed with them. This kid was vomiting large amounts over and over again. The child looked sick and miserable all day long. However, since child’s temperature was normal, there wasn’t a thing that could be done.

Parent won’t respond to phone calls, so I’m out of luck there.

Please keep your sick kids at home. Please.

I'm surprised. At our school, the child would be sent to the nurse's office to wait for pickup and they would keep calling the parent. And the child would be marked as out sick.

I also teach ES—my reaction to this chain of events would be to assume there’s a work-specific reason the parent can’t keep the child home. Two days left, OP. Two days.

Work-specific excuse - not an excuse in my book

Back up childcare is a must. It's just irresponsible of parents to assume the school will take care of their sick child. Find a sitter! Pay a stay-at-home mom to watch your kid. Take leave!

sorry - But we teachers are not babysitters.

LOL yeah no thank you. -SAHM

When I stayed home, I was back up for my friends. no shame in helping out, SAHM - I wasn't (and am still NOT) too good to help out when people are in a bind.

Anonymous wrote:OP, your anger needs to be towards the admin on this one. If the rules states 24 hours for throwing up, the kid needs to be sent back to the nurse until he gets picked up.if the parents can not be contacted, then move on to the emergency contacts. Regardless, the child stays in the nurse’s office or elsewhere. This is common sense.

- teacher also

I think this depends on the school. Our health tech is extremely inconsistent and admin is too busy with other issues to be present in the office and confirm each decision the health tech makes. I've sent an email to admin to confirm what policies the health tech should follow, and I got the 24 hour rule as a response. The caveat is that if a kid just says they spun around and got dizzy or coughed hard and threw up from that, then the nurse takes it at face value and sends them back to class if they don't have a fever. A lot of kids get stomach bugs without fever, and many times they think they threw up because of something like spinning around but a few hours later it's apparent it's actually a virus. Last week I was picking my daughter up at aftercare and overheard a dad asking his daughter if her "poop was still like water today". Uhh, that's diarrhea. Why are you sending a 5 year old to school with diarrhea? Guess who got diarrhea a day later?

For those who are saying it's the teacher's responsibility, how can the teacher contact the parents with a room full of kids? Also, a lot of admin will not let teachers override the decision of the health tech because that's considered their area of expertise.

Anonymous wrote:I'm a middle school teacher at a W feeder and I have kids coming in feverish and snotty all the time. There are some kids who are just never out of class no matter how sick they are. You would think with the money to live in Bethesda these parents would have the ability to find childcare when their kids are miserably ill. On a related note, if you're looking for Christmas presents for your child's teachers -- send Lysol wipes.

Yes please!

I'm a middle school teacher at a W feeder and I have kids coming in feverish and snotty all the time. There are some kids who are just never out of class no matter how sick they are. You would think with the money to live in Bethesda these parents would have the ability to find childcare when their kids are miserably ill. On a related note, if you're looking for Christmas presents for your child's teachers -- send Lysol wipes.

OP here....the child was out sick TODAY (so threw up in the classroom on Monday afternoon, in school all day Tuesday, and absent Wednesday)

Anonymous wrote:OP, your anger needs to be towards the admin on this one. If the rules states 24 hours for throwing up, the kid needs to be sent back to the nurse until he gets picked up.if the parents can not be contacted, then move on to the emergency contacts. Regardless, the child stays in the nurse’s office or elsewhere. This is common sense.

- teacher also

But where is it written as an MCPS rule? Just because it's posted on a school's website, doesn't make it an official MCPS rule. Schools post what they want to post. These are interpreted as suggestions if not clearly stated as an MCPS rule

OP, your anger needs to be towards the admin on this one. If the rules states 24 hours for throwing up, the kid needs to be sent back to the nurse until he gets picked up.if the parents can not be contacted, then move on to the emergency contacts. Regardless, the child stays in the nurse’s office or elsewhere. This is common sense.

- teacher also

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach at the elementary level. Yesterday afternoon, I had a student repeatedly vomit in the classroom. I escorted the child to the health room and mom came to pick up the child from school. Well, the child was back in school today. The health tech called the parent who said the child felt better and “insisted” on coming to school today. Since the child didn’t have a fever, child was allowed to stay in school. There is a stomach virus going around the building. This wasn’t a case of the child ate something for lunch and it disagreed with them. This kid was vomiting large amounts over and over again. The child looked sick and miserable all day long. However, since child’s temperature was normal, there wasn’t a thing that could be done.

Parent won’t respond to phone calls, so I’m out of luck there.

Please keep your sick kids at home. Please.

I'm surprised. At our school, the child would be sent to the nurse's office to wait for pickup and they would keep calling the parent. And the child would be marked as out sick.

I also teach ES—my reaction to this chain of events would be to assume there’s a work-specific reason the parent can’t keep the child home. Two days left, OP. Two days.

Work-specific excuse - not an excuse in my book

Back up childcare is a must. It's just irresponsible of parents to assume the school will take care of their sick child. Find a sitter! Pay a stay-at-home mom to watch your kid. Take leave!

sorry - But we teachers are not babysitters.

LOL yeah no thank you. -SAHM

Anonymous wrote:Shitty parents. I feel sorry for the sick child.

This.
When my child was in preschool, we had a family that sent their sick - and contagious - child to school and, sure enough, two days later, half of the class was infected. Ugh.
Sorry, OP, I hear you.