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Parenting
School keeping "detailed records" of student illness
I got a message from DS's school that they are keeping "detailed records" of student illnesses. They want parents to list specific symptoms when calling their child in sick, including the exact number of their temperature. (They want you to say, "Sally has a temperature of 101.4." Saying "Sally has a fever" isn't good enough.) This is rubbing me the wrong way, because I think it's an invasion of privacy. If my kid has something contagious, I would absolutely give the school this information. But why do I have to report a cold as anything more than a cold? Why do I have to tell them my kid as a runny nose and a cough and have that go on some record? We have a doctor to monitor DS's health. I don't want his minor illnesses part of some public record.
Does your school do this?
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Re: School keeping "detailed records" of student illness
~Benjamin Franklin
DS dx with celiac disease 5/28/10
So what's the point? People who won't report MRSA or something serious aren't going to report a stuffy nose and fever of 100.6
The next time DS is sick, I am considering telling them he is "overcome with angst" and see how that goes over.
The only things we are required to report are contagious illnesses such as strep, pink eye, and flu-like symptoms that are accompanied by a fever of over 101.
I feel that this is a slippery slope that your school is requiring due to all those health privacy laws that are out there. My pedi's office is having me look at their pamphlet every time I go in about those.
I've never told them anything. I just send a note when he goes back to school saying that he was sick. I don't elaborate beyond that at all.
This.
I'm imagining to be worried about this you must imagine some master computer somewhere tracking sick days so 20 years from now on job applications when they ask how often you've been sick, they want info for her lifetime, so you better keep accurate records at home, too, or else you'll trip up her career opportunities in decades to come...
So you are OK with school officials collecting personal information in a random way, without explaining why, and sharing it with the Dept. of Health (I confirmed this)? No one can/will tell me how the info is to be used, how long it will be retained, who has access to it, or how it will be disposed of. No one will provide me with the county policy governing the collection of such information. Nope, no reason to ask questions or verify what the government (both state and federal) might be doing with this information. I don't necessarily have an issue with them collecting the information, I just want to know what they are doing with it.
Yes. Unless they're asking to do a blood draw or cheek swab, I wouldn't care what they do with "student a had a temp of 102.5 on Tues" and "student d had a temp of 103.4 on Fri."
I would be. It's a fever, a cough, etc.. I'm not sure what "bad" someone would do with that info. I could honestly care less if I tell the world my daughter has a 102 fever- what exactly will happen? It's not personal info such as a phone number, a boss asking for your facebook, etc.. it's just a number on a thermometer, you know?
That all said, my daughters school has never asked exact info. However, I've always provided it with her note back when she's absent "my daughter was absent on xx because of a 102 fever" .. so obviously it wouldn't bother me. I do it without being asked. I also call the nurse when it's something bigger that can be passed around her class (like when she had strep).
My school does not ask us to do that and I would not follow this. They can't decide if your kid is not sick enough and should be at school, that's your decision.
I'd just keep to my regular, "Johnny is out sick today" and if they ask for more, just tell them, "I'd rather not get into details. He'll be back when he's better."
...baby #3 is here...
Does your kid's tissue count affect the classes' ability to learn? I guess my idea is that schools are there to teach your kid and so how does having a tissue count or temperature number for a kid out sick change how that teacher is going to teach that day?
...baby #3 is here...
Big Girl 2.7.06 ~ Baby Girl 9.2.07
what she said. Plus copy of both kids' birth certificates and copies of my w2.
I would tell them that since they are not covered by HIPAA laws I will not be disclosing the info.
Bottom line: If I were overly concerned about my child's privacy, they would be home schooled. Teachers and school staff have access to very private and intimate details about our children and our home lives, whether through what they observe, what we provide, or the stories our lovely, earnest children tell.
Sometimes the things my kids come home and tell me that so and so said about their parents make me cringe, since I'm sure everyone in the classroom has heard some gems about our house.
This. Infectious diseases are a public health issue. The schools are monitoring illness because it can potentially impact a lot of students and they want to make sure they can lessen the impact of any outbreaks.
I just read through the entire thread and I'm amazed by the adversarial reactions. You trust your child to the school each day for 7 or 8 hours - do you really not think the school has the students' best interests in mind? With several hundred children in close proximity in one place, wouldn't it seem natural to monitor their health, especially in light of lower vaccination rates and the increase in incidence of diseases like measles and pertussis? I guess I don't get all the objections and people wanting to fly the HIPPA flag like it's the Stars and Stripes.
Yes, I trust the teachers and staff of my son's school. I don't necessarily trust the the health department who is in charge of collecting and managing all this personal information. Especially when no one in the county health department can/will answer my questions about what they are doing with the information and who has access to it.
Do you think the fact that you tell the school he has a 102 fever will impact him when he's looking for a job at 20, or...? I'm confused at how such a minor thing to me will cause harm regarding anything. It's a number on a thermometer, I'm unclear as to what danger and breech of privacy this can cause? I'm not being snarky, I'm actually asking because I'm curious.. it's so simple to me, I guess. Not something I would dream about fighting. If they asked for my facebook to spy on me, yes. I'm just not sure how sharing a sickness or number will cause damage or matter at all.
OMG - you people are ridiculous with your invasion of privacy issues.
When DS was in preschool and there were issues with MRSA all over the news, his private school asked us to do this - to try to track outbreaks (if they happened). I don't understand what the big deal is. Are you afraid of the "slippery slope"? Because I fail to see where giving the school an exact temperautre is going to lead...
I agree. The information is collected for the safety of our children and of us. What exactly are you afraid of when you say no one will answer your questions about what will be done with this information?
I actually just talked to someone from the health department. Every child in the school system has an electronic file and absences (for health and other reasons) are tracked by name, SSN, ethnicity, age, and community (AKA income). It's all just a little too "big brothery" to me.
My inner conspiracy theorist thinks the reporting of specific symptoms is linked to a recent flu outbreak and the flu vaccine rate. (Flu vaccines are included on shot records, so the health department would know who got the vaccine and who didn't.)
Further, my overarching concern is the security of this electronic file that the government has and will likely always have on my kid. Everything is in it -- health stuff, grades, tardies, the fact that he missed a couple of days of school for a family trip, disciplinary actions -- everything. There is no way to know that what is in the file is accurate unless you check it. (Which I am going to do on a regular basis.) Years from now, healthcare policies and insurance practices will be different. What's to keep an insurer or an employer from finding out that someone has a recurring health issue? Also, we all know electronic information can be compromised. What's to keep a potential kidnapper or rapist from finding out that a teenager is home from school (possibly alone) sick on a particular day?
I just don't think the government needs to know and record my kid's temperature or how many times he has vomited.
Does your health dept. track info from blood draws at their well-child visits? Ours does. We've declined them. If you're very concerned about it, you might want to check out whether this has been done for your child already. Not to add more paranoia to your anxiety, but I'd guess our area isn't the only one that does this.
That same teenager is way more likely to give away dangerous info on their facebook, over someone compromising electronic information regarding a temperature and have a rapist say "Oh YES! this kid has a 103 fever today, let's go to THEIR house...." ... um. I'm pretty positive shiiitt like that won't happen, and is pretty over the top.
You're really reaching here.
You are an absolute lunatic.
They already know how many times he vomited, they have cameras inside your house. Geesh.
If you're comfortable with sharing the information, then go ahead and do so.
For me, I'm not!! Especially after what DD's school pulled on our family at the beginning of the school year (granted, the officer was PO'd with the school and apologetic, but still..).
When my kid is sick enough to meet my criteria for keeping her home (sorry, needs more than being a little warm), it's no one else's business as to why she's staying home except maybe her doctor. There was one day we kept DD home because she had gotten a concussion at school so that I could take her to the ED (the school told us a fib about what actually happened), they were playing 20-questions with DH until I stepped in and said "It's none of their Bleep'n business past we're taking her in (for a concussion she had sustained under their watch!), we're the parents here!" and DH instantly realized "oh yea, none of their business" and said "she's going to the hospital" and cut them off there... I just felt like ripping into the person playing 20-questions on so many levels (namely how they should have had us take her in immediately after the injury instead of sending home a note that said she hit her head and what to watch out for - she ended up with bruising that was indicative of a skull fracture/broken nose from falling off a platform 1.5x body height when the school told us it was a slip and fall on the ice - which would normally cover it but we didn't have much of any snow or ice last winter!)..
As for trusting the school with my kid - not by much!! It's only about 6.5 hours which means the majority of the day she's here with ME to observe her...
o_O
There is a whole lot of crazy in this post. Who's whipping up the tinfoil hats?