April 30, 2009 Emergency Consultation on Swine Flu

We had a meeting today regarding the district’s plans in dealing with swine flu. Karen Garza chaired the meeting. There were several HISD administrators present but only Evelyn Henry, Dick Lindsey, and Brad Bailey made significant contributions. The key points affecting employees are as follows:

· The decision to close schools will be made by the County Health Department after there is a confirmed case of swine flu. Schools closed will likely stay closed for at least week as there is a four-day incubation period before symptoms will appear. They want to make sure anyone exposed has had a chance to become symptomatic before anyone returns to school.

· If HISD closes a school because of multiple suspected cases and the CDC determines none are Swine Flu, the school may reopen immediately.

· Teachers who cannot go to work because a school is closed will not be docked either pay or time from their sick bank.

· Employees who stay home do to any illness while the school remains open will be docked a day from the sick leave bank.

· Employees with children at a closed school may attend work if they are not symptomatic.

We had less success dealing with the protocols for schools that have no full-time nurses. We asked this same question by e-mail on Tuesday and received no solid answers then either. As best as I can make out, school personnel will call a sick child’s parents. It is then the parent’s responsibility to get treatment. Even though there is a published protocol that states the a student who is even suspected of having the flu can only re-enter school the nurse, we were told that if the County clears the school, a child can return without going through a nurse. I guess in the mind of the district; that takes care of the problem of not having a nurse on-sight. Evelyn Henry also told us that if a school without a nurse made a request, she, or another member of her staff would go to that school to assist.

We ended our comments by stating that we have for years been calling for a full-time nurse on each campus and that the district needs to look at this crisis as a lesson for future budgeting decisions.

Benefits Meeting April 6,2009

Today's was a very short meeting. It was announced that the three finalists for medical coverage are Aetna, United Healthcare and Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Mercer will be conducting final interviews in the next week or so. The finalists for the Wellness RFP have not yet been selected.

The Chips law has raised the minimum salary for a family of four to $22,050.

Lastly it was announced that a mistake by Mercer has caused 2,257 employees to receive the $5 discount meant for those who completed the health survey. This has gone on for seven paychecks. I asked if HISD intended to get the money back from the employees and was told "that has not yet been determined". I strongly suggested that because it was Mercer's mistake it is they that should eat the loss.

April 7, 2009 Consultation Agenda

HOUSTON FEDERATION OF TEACHERS

Please include the following to the April 7, 2009 Instructional Consultation agenda:

1. Health Facilities

This issue is happening specifically at Caldwell Elementary. The School Nurse is being asked to clean up the children that defecate themselves and change their clothes. We object to this for the following reasons:

· Schools lack appropriate facilities. Nurses’ clinics were generally an afterthought in many schools and we are lucky to have cots in some places let alone shower facilities. Again, having children clean up in an ill equipped clinic is a sure way to produce cross contamination and spread an infection to healthy students-thus causing increased absences. In addition to shower facilities-the issue of providing clothes comes up. Again, the Nurses valuable clinic space can be taken up providing a ‘clothes closet’ for those kids that soil themselves or that parents didn’t provide a ‘spare pair’ in the child’s backpack.
· Nurses have no protection against charges of inappropriate behavior that may arise as a result of them cleaning a child.
· HISD policy states clearly that children with diarrhea should not attend school until the diarrhea ceases. Frequently children soil themselves because they could not get to the toilet in time. As much as we teach and emphasize good hand washing, having a child that has soiled themselves returned to the class in clean clothes only to possibly spread pathogens to their classmates is irresponsible, lax public hygiene. Feces can contain as many as 231 known pathogens-see attached note. This represents an unnecessary risk to both staff and students.
· There needs to be a policy for “chronic soilers”. Those students who are not yet socially ready to be in school. Once enrolled they cannot be sent home. Who is responsible for dealing with these children?
· Toileting is a social and hygiene issue which (barring special needs children) is the responsibility of the parents. Parents are required to provide the school with valid contact and emergency phone numbers.

2. Sharps disposal

We are pleased the district now has someone to pick up sharps containers from schools. We are now getting questions about how to dispose of used AED batteries. We need to have a procedure developed and shared with the nurses so that they know whom to call to dispose of these items.

3. Abusive treatment of teachers assigned to the Media Center

Teachers assigned to the Media Center are being treated as convicted criminals. This must stop immediately.

4. Teachers being paid extra duty for ASPIRE Training Module

Teachers are being paid extra duty pay to complete training modules. This funding should come from the performance pay fund instead of campus general funds.

5. Workers Compensation Injuries

Employees being told they must use an assigned doctor for workers comp injuries. May we have a written statement that says they can go to a doctor of their choice?

6. End of year packing

We have brought this into consultation last month. May we have a written statement from the administration that gives guidelines for end of the year packing?

7. School staffing

As the budget is being developed it is time to look at the basic staffing of schools. Principals are currently given too much discretion over the budget. We are finding that important positions and programs are being closed in order to free up money. Each school staff must have certain positions in order to offer a well-rounded experience. These must include a school nurse, librarian, physical education, and fine arts.

8. Walkthroughs as a weapon

Why are some schools constantly disturbing classrooms by having an administrator or administrators conducting numerous walkthrough observations? What is the purpose of a walkthrough? Are they intended to be diagnostic or are they intended to harass certain teachers?

9. Consultation minutes

This month marks the one-year anniversary since Instructional Consultation minutes were last posted on the HISD employee portal. Shall we have cake?

What is going on?