Who’s ready for my latest soapbox? No…? Then stop reading.:)

I discovered this morning that I have ringworm…..on my chest. I’ve never had this before in my life, let alone know much of anything about it. I had to look it up. Apparently it’s contracted through direct contact with an infected person or item. So now I’m going through the short short list of things that may have touched my chest and things I could have touched before scratching my chest. Not many things.

Being a teacher, we pretty well narrowed it down to student contact in some form. Kids are gross. We all know this. They have poor hygiene and generally repulsive behaviors. Not out of malice, but ignorance and indifference.

Now I have to avoid getting it again or in a worse spot. Well, in order to do that I need to identify the source.

Did you know that schools will not release any medical information about students to anyone? Not even teachers! Earlier this year there was a lice epidemic, but not a single letter was sent home in the affected classrooms, nor were other teachers alerted to the source of these outbreaks. Why? Because it “violates the student’s privacy”.

Ok, I get it. You don’t want us treating the kid like a leper and you don’t want other kids to do so. Seriously, we’re kind of trained to handle situations like this delicately. Forget contagious things. I don’t a teacher out there who hasn’t had to deal with the smelly kid – smoke, mildew, drugs, vomit, poop – you name it, we’ve smelled it. We’ve ended our days by emptying cans of febreeze air effects in our room in the hope that it might lessen the stank. But do we hold that student at arms length? Nope. We still love them.

But when it comes to anything even slightly medically related, we’re all in the dark. We don’t get the chance to avoid infection because we live in the most litigious society on the planet! No one and nothing is safe.

Me personally, if my kid came down with lice, scabes, ringworm or any other uber contagious infection, I’d REQUEST that other parents be informed. If the school wouldn’t do it, I’d spread the word myself to parents I know and ask them to spread the word as well so everyone can take preventative measures to avoid an outbreak.

The problem I now face is not knowing where my ringworm came from and being in the middle of treatment. Oh, my students will know that I’m not able to hug them. They will know I have an infection on my skin that they could catch with direct touch. I don’t want them getting it and spreading it like wildfire. I think it’s stupid to deliberately keep people in the dark.

I’m not saying to put up posters in the halls proclaiming that Johnny Smith has lice. Just send a generic letter home to the kids in the affected class telling parents what to look for and measures they can take for prevention. You’re not announcing who it is. And trust me, if your kid is observant enough to know who has what, they’ll go home and tell mom and dad who on their own, so making an official warning doesn’t add anything to the trouble.

So why don’t we do this now?? PARENTS!!! Idiot parents who think that the mention of the presence of a problem that involves their child is likened to turning their kid into an infection alert lighthouse. Nope. Not even close. I could almost guarantee someone else was absent that day and the other kids are utterly clueless. Not to mention that even if a few kids catch wise, IT DOESN’T MATTER! You would absolutely want to know if their was an outbreak in your child’s class, but if the school ever mentioned YOUR kid’s problem (even without mentioning the name), you’d be calling your lawyer and making threatening calls to the principal.

I understand the desire for privacy, but it puts teachers and students at an unnecessary risk. A generic letter saying there’s cause for concern doesn’t invade anyone’s privacy. Rather, it breeds awareness and healthy habits. I swear, if some parents knew what their kids are being exposed to, they might actually take more notice of whether or not their kid is bathing properly or even just washing their hands after going to the bathroom (I’ll save THAT soapbox for another day). I’m not asking for people to get obsessive about it, just smart.

Because of the idiots who think they can get rich quick off of these ridiculous lawsuits, the whole world operates on fear and it puts others at unnecessary risk.

So stay clean. Stay healthy. And for God’s sake lighten up a little! With all the people in the world, your kid WILL catch something eventually. It doesn’t speak a word to your abilities as a parent. One little nit can cause an explosion of unwanted situations that could potentially have been avoided with the simple act of vinegar behind the ears and some lice preventing shampoo. That’s what I don’t for lice outbreaks. Lord knows how I’ll handle this one, but for now, I just keep it covered and tell students I can’t touch them for a while.

 

OY VEY