Hand Washing, Baby Wipes, and Head Start

From a reader:  "I think that people on the blog may find it interesting to know that at the North Side Head Start meeting the other day (probably happened at the South Side meeting too), we were told that we could no longer ask families for Kleenex, soap, paper towels or baby wipes. As in "no school supply list." They said if we were caught doing this, we would be out of compliance with Head Start and the Federal Government for "soliciting donations." This of course set off an interesting array of commentary from the masses. The kids in my Head Start room come in attire costlier than my attire most days, yet I can't ask them for a box of Kleenex? Another interesting topic of debate was the subject of hand washing. Apparently we are supposed to teach the preschoolers to wash their hands as surgeons would. They are supposed to wash their hands about 7 - 8 times in the 2.5 hour program. (When they enter the room, before breakfast, after breakfast, after being outside, after touching art/sand/water, after going to the bathroom, after touching their nose, before lunch and after lunch). Many of these times we obviously would be washing hands anyway, however, some of these times sanitizer or a baby wipe should be sufficient. However, this is not an option if running water is available. Those in charge of this new rule have obviously not tried to have 20 three year olds wash their hands in one available sink."

Comments

I bet they are not paying for the soap either!

I find it sad that we no longer even think to expect the district to provide the basic toiletries required to keep children and ourselves clean in the school environment.

I do not think teachers should have to provide these, but I don't think parents should be expected to either.

In central office, the bathrooms have toilet paper, disposable toilet seat covers, soap, air dryers and automatic paper towel dispensers.

These are the same administrators who go on TV and threaten to investigate teachers for using their allocated sick days.....

I'm not sure we can blame CPS for 100% of this--- it is comming from the Federal Mandates of the program- CPS is just the messenger here.

Head Start does get $200.00 a year for supplies- but if you have 20 kids in a full day program or 34 kids in 2 1/2 day programs- that is a lot of soap, tissue, baby wipes etc!

[Educator All My Life]

Hands have to be washed. Teachers don't need others to remind them of that, but they do need help. Teachers should not have to come out of their 'pockets' to supply anything for anyone unless they want to. Then there's those who want to but can't afford to. PARENTS SHOULD SEND necessities to school with their children if they're sending their children to a school that doesn't have them. We can't keep waiting around for federal government and CPS to keep our children from getting what they need--education.

[ProDryers]

see http://www.prodryers.com for more information on hand dryers vs paper towels. Many studies have been done on hand dryers vs. paper towels. However, most studies are outdated in comparison to today's hand dryer technology. Today's technology proves that with hand dryers vs. paper towels, the hand dryers are the clear winner in every way. Paper towels cannot be recycled, consume precious resources, and use excessive landfill space. 20,000 gallons of water are polluted to make one ton of paper towels. 17 trees are consumed to make one ton of paper towels. A company named American Dryer makes the following hand dryer that can help lead the way to saving the environment. EXTREMEAIR® Hand Dryer With its patent pending technology, the EXTREMEAIR® is 3X faster - it dries hands completely in 10-15 seconds. This is accomplished with a powerful blast of warm air that quickly breaks up the layer of surface water on a user’s hands for quick removal and evaporation. While all American hand dryers save trees and reduce landfill waste - The EXTREMEAIR® uses up to 80% less energy than conventional hand dryers. The new GXT EXTREMEAIR hand dryer has been GreenSpec® Listed. This is an unbiased list of the most environmentally friendly products published by the editors of Environmental Building News. The EXTREMEAIR met tough GreenSpec standards because it conserves energy and reduces maintenance and waste. The EXTREMEAIR helps facilities qualify for LEED® credits. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. The EXTREMEAIR helps facilities qualify for LEED-NC, LEED-EB AND LEED-CI Credits in two categories: EA Credit 1– Optimize Energy Performance EA Prerequisite 2 – Minimum Energy Performance

[Sham wow]

Do you dry your baby off with a paper towel or a cloth?

-John

[Gene]

I manufacture indevidual packets of hand gel, like the ketchup packets. This would be great for schools. If any body is interested i can send pics and price. giru755@yahoo.com