This job gives me the “creepy-crawlies”—literally. Linda has decided to take the week off and head to Disney World with her family, so I am in charge. Of course, this week would be when even stranger things than usual happen. I don’t have much time to write, but here’s an example. I got a message from a parent in Mrs. Saber’s part-day 3s classroom saying that her child had been identified with lice by their pediatrician on Monday afternoon. That meant, unfortunately, that her child had them while the child was here for school Monday morning and that a whole other set of children used that room on Tuesday before that mom decided to let us know!
I instructed Mrs. Saber to be on the lookout for anyone else who appeared suspicious in her room, and she volunteered to do a discreet head check with the help of her assistant teacher. I immediately grabbed several plastic trash bags and headed for Mrs. Saber’s room to bag up all of the stuffed animals, cushions, and dress-up clothes, any soft surface that the little buggers would like that could be contained in a plastic bag. I couldn’t do anything about the carpet except vacuum it (which had already been done), but I sealed the bags tightly, labeled them, stored them in the janitor’s closet, and hoped for the best. My big quandary was what to tell the parents. This could be a real nightmare for me if I didn’t handle it right. If I made too much of a fuss, I’d have Beverly and her minions down on me. If I didn’t make enough of a fuss, I could be in hot water with the state regulators and the parents (and then still have Beverly and her minions down on me).
Fortunately, I remembered seeing a set of binders in one of the hutches in the office my first day on the job when I was bored out of my mind and told to make myself at home. The binders looked like a collection of daycare guidelines and regulations from the state. I went to the hutch, found the binder that looked the most promising, and voilá! There was exactly what I needed: procedures for handling lice infestations. According to this, if only one child has lice, I don’t have to send out a notification. I simply have to clean up the room, as I already did, and watch for any further evidence that the infestation has spread. Whew! I am so relieved. Let’s just hope that nobody else turns up with lice.
Unfortunately, I can’t stop scratching my head!