CLIPPINGS
Snow Days Turn Into E-Learning Days for Some Schools In what is proving to be an uncommonly chilly and snowy winter, thousands of schools across many states have been forced to close their doors—often for days at a time. Although a lot of students have surely tossed their books aside in favor of sledding or video games, some schools are seizing on e-learning as a way to keep up educational momentum.
'The Importance of Being There: A Report on Absenteeism in the Nation's Public Schools' An estimated 5 million to 7.5 million students miss nearly a month of school every year, a trend that goes largely unnoticed despite the devastating effects on student achievement. Attendance Works, May 17, 2012.
Caregiving Youth: A Hidden Population May 3, 2012 by Lotsa Team by Cristy Kovach Hom
The Three Faces of Work-Family Conflict (2010) from The Center for American Progress and the Center for WorkLife Law at the UC Hastings College of the Law analyzes the work-family conflicts that millions of American families face and provides common-sense, progressive recommendations to solve them... Download the executive summary (pdf)
Sick Kid? Stay Home! Stop shuffling your sniffling tots off to school and spreading their germs to the rest of us, by Beth Teitell, Boston Globe, February 25, 2007
Health Problems Fuel Achievement Gaps, Study Says A new report urges federal officials to better coordinate efforts to address health disparities harming disadvantaged children. Inside School Research Blog: U.S. Programs for Children Seen as Tangled Web
Swine flu? Many workers can't stay home, Corvallis Gazette-Times When staying home could mean losing a paycheck, or worse, losing your job entirely.
Truancy and Asthma In Philadelphia, Court Judge Sunny Richman reported that asthma is overwhelmingly the number one medical reason cited for truancy in her court, one of eight truancy courts held one week per month across the city. During one of Richman's recent sessions almost all the truancy cases that day were due to asthma - and students aren't sent to court unless they have missed 25 days or more of school... (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, March 8, 2004)
Children are sick not truant... A March, 2000 ABT Associates study on Learnfare, a program that imposed financial sanctions on parents of truant kids, reported that "illnesses, not behavior problems, accounted for the overwhelming majority (four-fifths) of welfare children's additional absences.
In Turnabout, Children Take Caregiver Role Across the country, children are providing care for sick parents or grandparents lifting frail bodies off beds or toilets, managing medication, washing, feeding, dressing, talking with doctors. Schools, social service agencies and health providers are often unaware of those responsibilities because families members may be too embarrassed, or stoic...Some children develop maturity and self-esteem. But others grow anxious, depressed or angry, sacrifice social and extracurricular activities and miss or quit school...Or dropping out, like Maryangellis Rodriguez, of Boynton Beach, who quit school at 16 to care for her mother, who has multiple sclerosis. "I just did it cause that's my mom," she said. (NYTIMES, Pam Belluck, February 22, 2009)
Workplace Dilemma: Disclose Child's Special Needs Or Not? To tell the boss or not? That's a dilemma faced daily by parents of children with special needs who question whether or not telling their employer about their caregiving responsibilities is a good idea. Many parents fear discrimination and maybe for good reason. Nearly a third of parents whose children have emotional or behavioral issues report being fired because of work interruptions stemming from their children's issues. And, parents of children with special needs are likely to be poorer. That, even though it's estimated that more than 8 percent of employees are responsible for children with special needs, reports Maggie Jackson, Boston Globe 12/12/08. To read more click here.
"21% of middle school students have been diagnosed with asthma." The 2008 Massachusetts Health Council's "Common Health for the Commonwealth: Massachusetts Trends in the Determinants of Health" was released at the State House by Senator Richard Moore and Representative Peter Koutoujian. The report tracks the trends of 11 preventable, costly health indicators and highlights the increasing trends in the areas of asthma, Hepatitis C, high school drop-out rates, obesity, poor oral health and domestic violence.
The number of kids with chronic health issues is growing. USA Today Nov. 2, 2008. Number of Kids on medication jumps alarmingly
Expert: Cost of absenteeism rivals health care, Rebecca R. Hastings, Society for Human Resource Management Website October 2008 http://www.shrm.org/
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