Randy Cassingham's Blog

Posted by Cory, Topeka Kansas on July 11, 2008:

Looks like they managed to criminalize, in some respect, the common cold, the flu, and a whole host of other bugs that are best treated with a little extra rest at home.

So what are they going to do about children who get sick, dehydrate, and have to be on IV fluids? Are kids going to wander the halls of school carrying their own bags around?

Posted by Laura, New Market, MD on July 11, 2008:

Wonderful. I thought the whole point of keeping sick children home was to prevent spreading their germs to everyone else at school. Hopefully this doesn't extend to head lice. We had an epidemic of that at my daughter's school in Kindergarten. Almost the entire school had it over a period of weeks, because kids who were infected kept being sent back to school too soon. And the last thing a healthy kid needs is to be sneezed on all day by the sick kids. One or two days for a cold, maybe a week for a bad flu, and the doctor only tells you to take the kid home and rest. If I had to take my daughter to the doctor every time she had the sniffles, I would be in the poor house! How sick (in the head) are those school officials?

Posted by Jonathon White (Taiwan) on July 11, 2008:

Interesting. Here in Taiwan, if you are sick, the principal may not let you come back (even staying at home a few days after your child feels better) in order to ensure you don't infect other children in the class.

Posted by Larry - Napa Valley, CA on July 12, 2008:

Methinks the Waterbury School District has way too much money for the school board to play with. I don't know of any school district in California that has the money to hire even one "attendance monitor" to check up on why kids are not in class, let alone having monitors (plural) to do nothing but drive around town checking on kids.

I wonder if the parents in the district are going to stand for this policy or are they going to recall the entire school board for this moronic policy? It would be interesting to find out if state law even allows such a policy OR the fines.

Posted by Al, Kennewick WA on July 12, 2008:

What it REALLY boils down to is that the school officials don't really give a hoot whether the kids attend school or not, EXCEPT that they do not receive the government money if a kid isn't in attendance.

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Bingo. As always: "Follow the money!" -rc

Posted by Meshell, Indiana on July 12, 2008:

This just goes to show you how ridiculous and stupid the zero tolerance policies are. As a parent of school aged kids I am constantly amazed at the things the school boards come up with. If a kid gets a sniffle, runny nose or has the slightest of a temperature they send them home. And we get a warning that we should keep our kids home if they get sick, in newsletters etc. All year long.

But at the same time we are limited to how many days our kids can miss (our school is 8 days a year, 10 unexcused). And even if you call the attendance hotline each day you still have to provide a written statement on why the child was absent (or it's considered unexcused). Since both my kids attend monthly counseling and my son has various doctor appointments each month for his medical and behavior conditions, I have to constantly get statements from the doctors offices etc. And I STILL get threatened by the school board for time missed even though my kids rarely miss whole days, normally its just a couple hours here and there for appointments.

And its sad cause because I can't do appointments after school or dad misses work (I cannot drive), which we can't afford. His employer has already warned him about tardiness (despite the fact he worked a agreement out with his store manager last year cause my son had to have special classes that we had to drive him to twice a week after school that cut into my significant others work time). And they are super quick to come after people who don't rush their kids to the doctor for every little sniffle.

As a parent its almost maddening what you have to go through to get an education for your children and it isn't even that good of an education to begin with!!

Posted by James, Knightdale, NC on July 12, 2008:

Our school district is just the opposite; you are REQUIRED to remove your child from school if they have even a low-grade (i.e. 99.0 F) temperature. My parents wouldn't even consider letting us stay home unless the thermometer reached triple digits. Maybe that's why I'm already saving for private school....

Posted by Bronwyn, Norfolk, VA on July 12, 2008:

The public school district around here has similar policies, actually. An absence is unexcused unless you have a note stating that you were under a doctor's care and that you were no longer contagious; you can change an unexcused absence to an excused absence if you were at the funeral of a close relative, but you have to bring proof, such as a funeral program. And if you miss seven class periods in one semester (twenty-one days in the school year, if you're in elementary school), you automatically fail the course for that semester, or in elementary school you fail the whole year. The school attendance policy states that "children who have missed more than six days [or twenty days in ES] of class instruction cannot have the necessary tools to pass the course." Even if they kept up with their classwork and otherwise have an A, it's automatically an E (because NPS doesn't do F's, it's bad for children's self-esteem). You can appeal the decision, but it is an extreme pain in the rear.

My elementary school--I was privately educated until high school--was much more sensible. If you had a fever, you went home. You weren't allowed to come back until your temperature had been normal for twenty-four hours without medication. The headmaster's opinion was that no child can be expected to concentrate on his or her work if he or she has a fever, and if the child is sick the other children could get it. The worst that could happen if you missed a day of school was that you wouldn't get a perfect attendance award at the end of the school year, and you'd have a lot more homework when you got back.

Posted by Sandy, Logan, UT on July 12, 2008:

Besides illnesses, I feel sorry for a child who needs to visit a Dentist or Orthodontist. It's not possible to schedule all patients after school or on Saturday, even if you are lucky enough to find a provider who will has extended hours.

Posted by Jackie, Tacoma, WA on July 14, 2008:

Just curious; since this was two years ago, do you have any follow-up on what happened? It's hard to imagine such a ridiculous policy sticking around very long, because it's so unworkable and inflexible (and whereas normal ZT policies will probably only hit a few kids, leaving only a few sets of parents to experience first-hand why they're such bad ideas, almost anyone will get sick at least once or twice a year, and definitely more than 1 day per couple of years). But then again, who knows?

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As a matter of fact, I told this story during my Mensa talk. I was interrupted by an audience member who is a teacher in that district, and she confirmed that indeed the policy was implemented, and she thought it was utterly ridiculous. -rc