View report page

32 School Work.
cases by home visiting. It is fairly frequent when visiting a school
child to find infectious disease such as Scarlet Fever or Diphtheria,
which has had no medical attention and has therefore not been
notified, and this leads to a further spread of infection. The
schools have also been visited with a view to ascertaining their
suitability for the congregating and teaching of children, and in a
few instances defects have been noticed and the attention of the
School Board called to the matter.
Taken as a whole, however, the schools in the district are in a
quite satisfactory condition. The only fault is with the architect
in some cases, and this is not often remediable. During the year
two schools were closed for periods of two weeks owing to the
prevalence in the vicinity and among its scholars of Scarlet Fever.
In both cases the disease was quickly followed by a subsidence
of the outbreaks.
With regard to the exclusion of children suffering from Ringworm
of the scalp, a lamentably unnecessary loss of school attendance
is often incurred. If the patches are shaved and washed with
ether soap and the head painted with strong iodine, and a linen cap
continually worn, no harm can possibly be done to other children in
the class.