Greetings, GreenMount Community,
After seeing a news report on what has
happened in Boston concerning the flu outbreak, I decided that it was time to
meet with the staff and students to talk about precautions here at school and
at home. We called an impromptu
Wednesday Morning Meeting at which we discussed hand washing, food sharing and
how close some of our students like to be to others. It was noted that the flu is mostly an
airborne germ, so students need to be especially careful when sneezing or coughing. We reviewed the procedures for sneezing into
your inside elbow (is that an anatomical term?), and we made sure every teacher
has a supply of hand sanitizer as well as a spray bottle of disinfectant to
clean tables, desks and chairs. It has
been recommended that everyone get a flu shot (ages 6 and up), even though some
strains of the flu out there are not provided for in the shot. Lauren Calia heard about our meeting and
provided some references that parents may find helpful about the flu. The U.S. Department of Health & Human
Services has set up a web site with resources on the flu at www.flu.gov.
That website has a flu vaccine
finder tool; by entering your zip code, you can find flu clinics near
you. Many pharmacies and some grocery store pharmacy departments offer
flu shots. Additionally, the Baltimore City Health Department offers free
flu shots for kids (and perhaps still is offering free flu shots for
adults). Also, here is a link to the CDC’s “The Flu: A Guide for Parents”:
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/pdf/freeresources/updated/a_flu_guide_for_parents.pdf. Thanks to Lauren for researching this.
I mentioned the fact that students sometimes share food,
which is not a good idea in any case. I
should also note that a large amount of food goes uneaten and ends up in the
trash. I have spoken to the students
about this and the fact that there are millions of people around the world who
would love to have a trash can full of our discards to feed their
families. My mother would always remind
me, “There are starving children in China!”
I can hear her now: “Those children in China would just love to have
your Brussels sprouts!” (Wouldn’t we love to have their sprouting economy right
now?) I made the mistake once of
suggesting that we box up the Brussels sprouts and send them to China. That didn’t go over too well. My next strategy was to get Bunky (my dog) to
eat them. He wouldn’t, and gave me away
when he gagged on them. Please speak to
your children about this issue (not the Brussels sprouts thing) and discuss
what they will actually eat. I hate to
see so much food go to waste.
Parent conference sign-up sheets will be on the white
bookcases in the upper school hall by the end of the day today.
Cheers,
Steve
