Sickness prevails as ill students continue to attend school

By Defne Alpay ‘20

Catlin Gabel School is a petri dish during flu season. Graphic created by Anousha Greiveldinger. Photo courtesy of Catlin Gabel School

As flu season approaches, there is no better place for sickness to emerge than a close-knit school campus. In the Upper School at Catlin Gabel School (CGS), there are often periods of time when a large portion of the student body is sick, resulting in a dilemma where students must decide between prioritizing their health versus attending to their school responsibilities.  

Last year’s flu season ran from October 1 to May 4. Typically, flu activity increases during October and November and peaks during February. Despite it only being the middle of October, students and faculty alike have already felt the effects of the 2019-2020 flu season during the opening months of school. 

From the perspective of CGS junior Emma Lindner, attending school when sick poses a health risk for the rest of the CGS community.

“When I think about myself and whether I want to go to school or not, it’s based on if I’m contagious or not. Do I want to risk all of my friends getting sick...or do I stay home a day or two and get better?”

Even if Lindner isn’t sick, she often finds herself among other students and friends who are, resulting in a spread of illness that is difficult to contain within CGS’s close campus.

“Probably once every two months, somebody will get sick and I hang around them...then I’ll feel kind of ill and then I think back to myself and say ‘I probably shouldn’t have done that’ or maybe they shouldn’t have come to school,” Lindner explained.

As a result, Lindner takes a calculated approach to attending school when ill in attempts to avoid spreading germs around campus. 

“I’ll bring just a giant thing of hand sanitizer, sanitize my hands in every class and try to not touch doorknobs,” she shared.

While concern for the health of her classmates and teachers is important to Lindner, when deciding to stay home or attend school, she also takes into consideration which classes she may miss.

Lindner explained that the possibility of specifically missing math and science classes due to illness impacts her decision as to whether to attend school or not. 

“I feel like with my other classes, I can catch up just as easily. But you’re always learning something different and new in [science and math] classes, and it’s hard to miss those,” said Lindner.

The Catlin Gabel workload policy states that for math and science classes, “homework [is] principally used to practice skills learned during class sessions” while English and social studies classes are typically discussion-based with readings assigned to be completed outside of class. The policy highlights the differences between the types of content likely to be missed when students are absent. 

When a student is out sick, Lindner explained that while teachers do the best they can to help their students, “to some degree you have to teach yourself or you have to learn that it's your job to catch up.”

The tendency for Lindner and other students to often push through sickness is not limited to CGS alone. A study conducted in five European countries (Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Italy and Latvia) examined the various reasons for sickness presence (attending work/school when ill) among secondary school students. 

The study, selected for its specific focus on secondary students as opposed to employees, surveyed students between ages 15-18 through a questionnaire format. 67% of students reported that academic pressure, attendance (50%) and social pressures (40%) were important determining factors in attending school or not when ill.

The feeling of academic and social pressures as reasons for attending school are not limited to the European study. CGS senior Libby Rouffy explained how she would “rather suffer in class then suffer at home trying to make up what I wasn’t there for.” 

From Rouffy’s perspective, there exists an underlying social pressure for students to come to school if they want to perform at a high academic level.

“I think there is a social pressure to succeed and do well in all your classes. And in order to succeed, you have to be there [at school]. So ultimately, there is pressure to attend school in order to get all the information and be on an equal level with everybody,” said Rouffy.

The choice to prioritize school responsibilities over physical health, however, takes both a physical and mental toll in and outside the classroom.

“For me, I get headaches a lot when I’m sick. And so I’m usually just clutching my head trying to get through each period,” Lindner explained.

A report in Brigham Young University’s (BYU) The Daily Universe features family practitioner and BYU student health center medical director Keith Willmore who discourages students from attending class when ill. 

“I think a lot of students are mistaken. They think they just have to push through it. If they’re really sick, they’re not going to remember the things they learned...This mindset can actually lead to lower performance in school because of a deficiency of recuperation time,” Willmore stated.

Lindner’s perspective on the issue is quite similar. “Automatically, [students] are going to feel more tired and it’s going to affect the way they participate all around.”

Currently, CGS’s sick student policy simply discusses the actions taken at school if a student contracts an illness during the school day. The 2019-2020 Family Handbook states that “if children become ill at school, we make them comfortable and call the parents. There are areas in the Beginning, Lower, Middle, and Upper Schools where a sick child may lie down.”

However, there is no explicit policy written in the handbook describing the symptoms or severity of illness to determine whether a student should attend school or not, leaving it up to student discretion. 

Despite a lack of explicit written policy, previous communications have been sent out to the CGS community about severe illnesses. On May 24, 2019 in CGS’ “News You Can Use” weekly email, Upper School Head Aline Garcia-Rubio sent out a warning about possible exposure to pertussis (whooping cough) on campus. 

According to the Mayo Clinic, whooping cough is a highly contagious respiratory tract infection prone to children and older individuals whose vaccines have worn off. Symptoms of whooping cough are initially similar to the common cold, meaning that it is more likely that students may still attend school under the impression that a common cold isn’t dangerous. Due to the serious health risks of whooping cough complications in children, this health advisory was sent out directly to CGS parents and students.

While communication about severe illnesses is vital to keeping the CGS community healthy, the policy for school attendance when a student contracts a common cold, flu or other mild illness isn’t as transparent. 

To clarify the expectations for sick students, there is a possibility that CGS could model portions of its sick student policy similar to that of colleges. At the University of Southern California (USC), the policy on medical excuses for students explicitly states that legitimate excuses for missing class include colds, flus, headaches, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain and other minor illness with the goal “to support student and campus health.”

Lindner’s suggestion for a sick student policy prioritizes student health over sickness presence in an attempt to keep the entirety of the CGS community free of illness.

“If you have a contagious bacteria inside of you, don’t come to school until it's gone. I always question the people who say “Oh yeah I’m sick, but I’m fine. Just don’t touch me.” You’re touching doorknobs all day, stall doors in the bathroom, faucets, pens, paper... no matter what, you are going to spread germs,” Lindner explained.