Posted by:
summer
(
)
Date: July 19, 2020 07:18PM
As a public school teacher with nearly a quarter century in the classroom (all grades 1-7,) I'm telling you, keep your kids at home if you can possibly do so. A school is a petri dish on any given day. I've seen cold, flu, stomach bugs, etc. fly around a school building. I've had kids projectile vomit in my classroom, and then have the custodian take up to two hours to show up (many times, I've cleaned it up myself.)
Here's the thing -- you are counting on your fellow parents to be sensible and not send their kids to school if they are sick. I'm telling you, that is an enormous assumption. I've seen kids start crying from the moment they walked in the door, they felt so unwell. When I ask, "Did you tell your mom?" The answer is inevitably, "Yes," or "She said to call if I don't feel better." I've seen parents dose kids with Tylenol in the morning so they can get through the first few hours. I've seen parents refuse to pick up sick kids (the child normally spends the day sleeping on his or her desk.) I've seen the school nurse send sick kids back to the classroom because there is literally no where else to put them.
Did you know that your child's teacher supplies 80-90% of what you see in your child's classroom, out of her own pocket? An average year for me is about $800. And that includes cleaning supplies -- disinfectant, wipes, paper towels, hand soap, etc. Parents send in some of that, but it isn't nearly enough. And the school is sure not going to buy it for us. Do you think my little bottle of Fantastik is up to the job of controlling a major pandemic?
Plus, scientists are starting to find that children who are positive, but asymptomatic for Covid have lung damage. Will that damage persist? No one knows. Regarding Covid, we don't know what we don't know. We have no idea whatsoever about possible lasting damage from this disease.
If it were MY kid, I'd keep him or her at home if I could possibly do so.