http://www.cnn.com/2014/10/29/us/connecticut-school-ebola-lawsuit/index.html?c=us
Alright all you parents, is this what you would hope the school your child attends would do too?
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This is just stupidity. There is zero reason why this girl should not be allowed in school.
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Absolutely ridiculous. There were no new cases of Ebola in Nigeria during the time she was there, and anyone who had it was being treated properly, which makes it virtually impossible for her to contract the disease, so she's being excluded why? This smacks of ignorance to me - 'she travelled to Africa so she must have come in contact with the disease and is now a risk to everyone'.....'cause you know Africa is a single country y'all and what affects one part affects them all. Ugh.
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That's crazy. There isn't Ebola in Nigeria.
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Oh, FFS. People are dumb. "I've recently been to Africa" is not code for, "I'm secretly harboring a horrific illness, save the children!" And Nigeria is now ebola free anyway.
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What the hell? That's absurd.
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this is extreme and based on fear mongering.
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There are no words
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That's extreme. A child I know was kicked out of daycare a month ago because the mom sometimes travels to Africa for work. She is never near any of the affected countries and is not a healthcare worker.
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So sad.
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I can understand the fear, but I would be upset too!
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@Mrs. Lemon-Lime: are you baiting us parents?
So, here is my take on it, as a parent with a child in a school (not daycare, but preschool). Whenever there is a communicable disease reported in any of the classes, the director sends us a note via email. In the past month, I've gotten three reports of HFM, one of lice and one of possible impetigo. In each of the notes, the director details the actions taken, preventative measures, if the child is cleared to return to school (not disclosing the identity) and the preventative measures that the school is taking, such as increased hand washing and in the case of lice, removing all soft toys for a period of two weeks, etc.
As a parent, right now, school is more for social interaction, so I don't get stressed out if he misses a day here or there because there isn't a lot of disruption. So, I read the notices and decide if he should go to school or not.
I would expect the same kind of note, with information and then depending on the situation, I would decide. If that makes me a bad parent in the eyes of some of the people on this thread or board, so be it.
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@looch: Totally understandable and I would expect the same. But this child does not have ebola and has had no contact with it...
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@travellingbee: I understand. But sometimes, people make decisions without having the full information, so I'd just want a note that basically says the situation, that the child has been cleared by a physician, etc. I don't think that is an unreasonable request. I am not okay with taking another parent's word for it.
In this case though, where I do see a problem, is that the family offered to be tested for Ebola and the Milford school or town (not sure) refused. That's just ridiculous.
eta: testing.
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@looch: you caught my tone, eh?
A classmate of mine died from Hep C after coming back from a vacation. I don't think the girl was even in class a full week after the vacation, but it threw my entire school into a frenzy.
We learned how the virus spread and ways to prevent it. We had mandatory, supervised handwashing twice a day. After about a month though things were back to normal because the handwashing before lunch cut into recess.
In moments like these when parents and teachers are worried I think education is key. The girl in this article is not a threat to anyone. The school district needs to learn FACTs.
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Uh maybe this is fair if they're doing the same to everyone who gets on a plane or has contact with anyone who's been in contact with anyone who's been on a plane in the past 21 days? Honestly it reeks of racism to me. If she'd been a white girl going to a wedding in Spain (roughly similar distance from epidemic, had cases of Ebola) they'd have asked her to do show and tell of her travels, not stay home for three weeks.
ETA: On second thought, this is Connecticut! Milford is connected to NYC (and confirmed Ebola) by public transit. Makes it all that much more absurd.
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This is absolutely absurd.
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So what's next, if you have been in contact with anyone with TB, you have to be quarantined? The flu? Chicken pox? Any communicable disease? This just smacks of the kind of things people did in the 80s because of HIV/AIDS.
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@anandam: you have a good point. I do think this ebola situation reveals the not-so-great attitude some people hold towards Africa, like it's some terrifying, crazy place. Also people don't have a very good grasp of African geography...
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@anandam: Ding, ding, ding! I totally agree. To me this is both racist and ignorant. Africa is not a country. There aren't any cases of Ebola in Nigeria. The girl has no symptoms (why would she?) and her parents even offered to take a test. Fear-mongering and stupidity.
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It's ridiculous.
I also can't understand the bullying... my kids are on a need to know basis and since we aren't in threat of Ebola, they don't know about Ebola. Therefore, they can't bully anyone about having Ebola.
I'm not sure what grade this little girl was in, and my frustrating would increase or decrease depending on age (access to information). Are the kids getting this info themselves or is it being fed to them by parents/teachers? There are certain things kids just don't NEED to know. From the sounds of it the brothers sound young since they weren't allowed to "play" with the other kids. Well, that to me says that parents or teachers are telling them the brothers went to Africa and might have Ebola and to be careful, or something.
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Obviously this is absurd, but my big question is how did the school even know where they traveled to? If my child was going to be out of school, I don't feel compelled to give a reason or to go into details of where we are traveling to or why. It's none of their business. Unless things have changed? This whole situation wouldn't even be a situation if they lied and said they were in Europe or if they didn't give a location at all. I'm not blaming the family in any way, just pointing out how dumb the whole thing is and how people will just lie/not disclose details if they're concerned about being banned from school. The CDC is "on it" with the airport checks. Why introduce another layer of unnecessary precatuions?
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@catomd00: Well... I guess it could depend on a lot of things? How big is the school? How well do you know the teachers? Does your child know where you're going and are they (or are you going to make them) lie about where they're going? Even if they simply said "we're going to visit family" is it clear where they're from? I don't think it's just so simply as to not say anything at all...
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IMO, overkill but I understand where they're coming from. It's a horrible, deadly disease with no cure and the handling of its first appearance on American soil was botched at every turn. People are scared and irrational but I wouldn't call it racism. I think everyone wants to act out of an abundance of caution.
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This whole thing is crazy. I do not understand on any level where they are coming from. I would absolutely call it racism unless they are also excluding students who recently traveled to Texas and New York. Now if they were to exclude all 6 train riders and Williamsburg visitors, then perhaps we would call them scared and irrational. Excluding the kid who visited a West African country with no cases of Ebola is xenophobic at best but from where I'm standing it reeks of racism.
this is extreme and based on fear mongering.
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