Guaranteed paid sick leave is the right idea. The working poor are hit the hardest with the "take care of your child/lose your job" "choice." Hats off to Klikizos for being a teacher with the guts to point this out. OUr gov't should remember that guaranteeing benefits helps lift people out of poverty more so that increasing a the amount of pay in wage slavery.

EXCELLENT idea!!!
Adults caring for sick children, keeping the public exposure to flu a limited one?
It is astonishing that such a simple, practical suggestion is just about impossible.
Our nation is deprived of any compassion or good sense.

The general population are too stuffed by the media to realize that most of America is operated, on a day-today basis, by millions of working poor people. Gas stations, hardware stores, malls, fast food joints, call centers, etc. all underpay and overwork their employees. Conservatives blow the "family values" trumpet, but refuse to allow working families the time they need to care for their parents and kids. The working poor are the ground clutter on the radar of the rich.

There is another insidious aspect to the problem of sick children at school, alongside the problem of parents having no other alternative when their children are sick. The schools themselves (at least in California) are financially penalized for absent children, no matter what the reason. So many schools have adopted campaigns to put pressure on parents and children through 100%-attendance rewards that make children unwilling to tell parents when they don't feel well. And some parents who could keep their children home feel obligated to bring sick children in just for the roll-call, then take them home an hour later-- so their school won't loose money.

from global research:

"According to a confidential warning letter written on July 29, 2009, a copy of which was leaked to the British newspaper, Daily Mail, the UK Government’s Health Protection Agency head of Immunization Department, Prof. Elizabeth Miller, warned British neurologists that the swine flu vaccine, which was briefly used in a mass vaccination program in 1976 in the USA until it was abruptly withdrawn because of dangerous side effects, is linked to Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), a potentially deadly and nerve crippling of the central nervous system. Guillain-Barre Syndrome attacks the lining of the nerves, causing paralysis and inability to breathe, and can be fatal. It can cause paralysis of the breathing muscles that can cause death by suffocation.

The warning letter of Prof. Miller states, “The vaccines used to combat an expected swine influenza pandemic in 1976 were shown to be associated with GBS and were withdrawn from use." The US Government was forced in the 1976 Swine Flu scandal to pay out millions of dollars in damages to victims of GBS who had received the vaccine.

The UK Government plans to inject 13 million British citizens beginning October with virtually untested H1N1 vaccines. The British Neurological Surveillance Unit (BNSU), part of the British Association of Neurologists, has been asked to monitor closely any cases of GBS as the vaccine is rolled out. One senior neurologist told the press off-record, “I would not have the swine flu jab because of the GBS risk.”

Miller’s letter was reportedly sent to 600 British neurologists on July 29, a sign that there is concern at the highest levels that the vaccine itself could cause serious complications. The letter notes, referring to the similar swine flu vaccination process in the USA in 1976 that “more people died from the vaccination than from swine flu; some 500 cases of GBS were found; vaccines may have increased risk of GBS by 800%; the US vaccine was withdrawn after just ten weeks when Government scientists confirmed the link with GBS; the US Government then was forced to pay tens of millions of dollars to those affected. They monitored that within days, symptoms of GBS were reported among those who had been immunised and 25 people died from respiratory failure after severe paralysis. One in 80,000 people came down with the condition. In contrast, just one person died of swine flu.

Notably, the Obama Administration has issued a special ruling exempting the vaccine makers from all liability from the vaccines. Most alarming in this context is the fact that the new vaccine has not been sufficiently tested and that the effects, especially on children, are unknown. Yet small children and pregnant mothers are the first priority to be vaccinated under WHO recommendations.

However, as leading European epidemiologists confirm privately, the effects of the so-called H1N1 Influenza A or “Swine Flu” are to date extremely mild, comparable to a common cold and disappear in a few days with bed rest. The deaths, as CDC and other health agencies have had to admit, all took place in patients with previous severe respiratory problems or other severe illness, and have in no known case been definitively linked to Swine Flu. The deaths were what epidemiologists term “opportunistic” that is “coincidental” not causal.

GBS however, which is believed linked to adjuvants present in the new vaccines, can cause paralysis and death. One woman, Hilary Wilkinson, was stricken with GBS and had to be fed through a drip while needing a tracheotomy just to breathe. It took her three months in the hospital to learn how to walk and talk again. On the topic of the swine flu vaccine, she says today, "It makes me feel wary that the Government is rolling out this vaccine without any clear idea of the GBS risk, if any. I wouldn't wish it on anyone."

I just saw a middle school ftball game. At the end the teams, as is standard practice, filed along the 50 yd line and hi fived each other. Would it not be a good idea to discontinue this gesture of sportmanship during FLU SEASON?

Good article. Paid sick leave for self and children makes sense in many ways. How would it be implemented for hourly workers? It could be, should be - but any ideas what a law would look like? Perhaps a person would be entitled to X amount of leave for Y amount of days or hours.

Meanwhile, the informal infirmary of this Milwaukee teacher is a creative makeshift solution, worthy of a third world activist. That teacher has my deepest respect. She/he doesn't give up under trying circumstances because children depend on us.

Perhaps every school should have an infirmary, but then it would cost money - money that is needed to bomb children in Iraq and Afghanistan.

More revolutionary ideas:

Soap, towels and working sinks in the bathrooms.

Daily cleaning of classrooms and desks.

Fresh fruits and vegetables in the cafeteria to boost immune systems.

A school nurse.

Joe

I encourage all instructors of high schools, colleges, and universities to insist that their students do not need a "doctor's note" to miss class.

Repeat it, and write it into the syllabus. Provide easy ways to catch up on coursework.

This much at least we can do with no signs of humanity from our government leaders.