to be annoyed at parents who send children to school when they are ill?

[heartmoonshadow]

I am a teacher and I went back to work last week after my maternity - I managed unlike a lot of teachers to travel the 25 miles to work in the snow and ice and was fully prepared to teach. I had on average only 6 pupils per day (out of a class of 30) who managed to get in - even though they all live within walking distance. So why is it that the parent of a violently sick child decided to send him to school to spread his bug? The child looked positively deathly when he arrived - he was pushed through the front door of the school - had he have made it to my class I would have refused to take him in. Within 2 minutes of taking off his coat he projectile vomited in the class and we had to call his parents to fetch him - this took them 3 hours - btw neither of them work they in my opinion just wanted some peace after Christmas!

Anyway as a result I now have this awful bug and I have to be off work - DH an DS have gone to stop at MIL for a few days so that they don't catch it. I feel awful letting down my school and my class after 1 week back.

So am I being unreasonable should parents with sick children keep their child away from others? I also worry how many of the other children in the classroom that day got the bug - I assume it is just because my immunity is down after being away from school for 6 months.

I finished my teaching career early because I was so run down by all the bugs I kept catching-I have an auto-immune disease. I am only in my thirties but parents will send their children into school with anything and everything. I realise there are pressures with letters regarding absence and employers. I have sent home children who had Measles so we are not just talking about a minor cold here. My son was born prematurely and like many other children in this country has a lung condition. In every school there are children with severe asthma or like him Chronic lung disease. A bad cold or flu might not be the 'bubonic plague' to you. To my son however even a bad winter cold can put him in A&E. I realise people can't keep their children home with every small cold they get but the bad ones and nasty bugs can be life threatening to a child like mine. My opinion is that there is no one out there safe guarding the rights of vulnerable children at school or the staff. There seems to be no awareness with parents that there are children in every class with things like asthma and colds these are not minor illnesses to people who have bad asthma. There needs to be more education to the general public and to employers to put less pressure on people to go to work when they are sick. I think that pupils like my son have a right to be protected by the school from coming into contact on a daily basis with children who are very unwell and should be still at home recovering-the law should change to protect staff as well. Nurseries and schools are not hospitals and contrary to popular belief getting colds does not build the immune system as there are hundreds of cold viruses. If you don't believe me that colds aren't life threatening read about RSV which causes alot of deaths in this country every year.