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26
But in order that I might advise such limited closure, it would
be necessary that I should receive prompt notice from the Head
Mistress of absentees either suffering from the disease or from disease
being in their homes, with, of course, the class attended by the
scholar; with such information systematically classified one might
see at a glance which measure would be most appropriate to prevent
the spread of the disease.
By Article 148, Sec. (ii) of the Code of Regulations and Instructions
issued by the School Board for London for the guidance of
their teachers, it is provided :
"(ii) Any Child showing symptoms of an infectious
disease, or any child coming from a house where an infectious
disease exists, must be sent home at once, and the Superintendent
of Visitors must be immediately informed of the
case, in order that enquiries may at once be made with a view
to proper steps being taken to prevent the children living in
the same house or tenement from attending school. The
Medical Officer of Health for the District must also at the
same time be informed of the child's exclusion, and furnished
with the name and address of the child and the reason for its
exclusion on a form with which the teachers will be supplied
at the Head Office."
It will be seen from this Article that the Board have given
instruction that the Medical Officer of Health should be informed of
all children absent from their schools from infectious disease, but at
present this is almost entirely ignored by the Head Teachers of
Schools.
In order to set at rest any doubt I might have, that the Board
required this information sent to the Medical Officer of Health, I
communicated with the Clerk to the Board on the subject and
received the following reply:—