The city provided the hand sanitizer DISPENSERS for my school (one in every room), but not the sanitizer itself. Our school didn't know this and doesn't have any money in the budget to buy it for ourselves. Not the brightest plan :/

My high school has paper towels in the bathroom on occasion, but no soap at all. On an upside, we are well stocked in hand sanitizer. Each teacher has a bottle on his/her desk, and just recently the school purchased us all another bottle.

The problem, however, is that an over abundant use of hand sanitizer can be detrimental to student health. There are many helpful bacteria on and in the human body, especially on the skin. When students frequently use hand sanitizer they kill the good with the bad, essentially lowering their natural defenses against illness even more.

We have paper towels available for the students but there is no soap in the bathrooms. The school gave all of the teachers a bottle of hand sanitizer but mine was "borrowed" and never returned to my classroom.

Many of my students have allergy and runny nose issues so I have been keeping my classroom supplied with tissues.

On the plus side, most of the kids have their own hand sanitizer and have been using it. They all seem to know about coughing and sneezing into their elbows. Our school nurse has also been in to talk to the kids.

On the down side, I work at a middle school and some of the kids like to play with their sanitizer instead of using it correctly.

It's almost impossibly hard to use too much hand sanitizer, Brandon. Yes, there is such a thing as good bacteria. But our hands are overwhelmingly susceptible to the bad kind.

At the same time, North Avenue is out of its mind if it thinks that hand sanitizer can treat the trace amounts of lead that kids are getting on their hands and mouths (indirectly) that our government refuses to speak about, let alone treat. Get the city schools new pipes, Alonso. Stop pretending water coolers are the ultimate solution. Why haven't you already? Oh, yeah. Didn't see it on Neil Duke's thorough checklist of things you need to do to get your bonus.

The only way our school has sanitizer is if the parents donate it. Most of us donate it at the beginning of the school year, and if each student brings one, it should get us through the school year. We never have soap in the bathrooms, and paper towels are a hot item. We can see them in the storage room, but they seem to never make there way to the bathrooms. We don't even have soap and towels in the staff bathrooms.

I have always kept my own tissue, sanitizer, soap, etc. for myself and my students. I also wipe down the desk tops at the end of each day. However, we don't have soap in the restrooms on a regular basis and sometimes not even toilet paper or towels. Not in the budget, maybe--more likely the result of not enough maintenance people on staff to keep track of all of that stuff. We have gone down from 6 full-time staff to two. Two people to keep up the barest niceties in a large school is just ridiculous. I have been ill for a week--not H1N1 but might have been. Who knows? Students are aware but they can't do it all and neither can we.

I teach in a high school and our student bathrooms rarely have soap or paper towels--and if they have either, it is never at the same time. The teacher bathrooms never have soap. Our school also installed the hand sanitizers--2 of them--one in the cafeteria and one in the main office (you'd hate to see an administrator get sick!).

Like everything else in our school, I have to supply hand sanitizers, tissues, cups for the water coolers, and most recently--toliet paper for myself and my students. Thanks AAA!!

My school hasnt had towels or soap for two years. Kids clog the toilets with the towels and tear the dispensers off of the wall as soon as they are installed - or re-installed. Sad but true!

Yes

What the city should be doing is provide lemon dispensers next to the alcohol-based hand sanitizer dispensers.

This way, the kids can make themselves cocktails that taste better than simply putting the alcohol gel into their juice cups.

If anyone from the city government says "Oh..we didn't know that there are non-alcohol hand sanitizers that work just as well, and are safer..and not more expensive.."...they'd be telling a lie. Ask them how much they've received in 'donations' from the people that make Purell...that would be interesting!
Hundreds of schools throughout the country have banned alcohol-based sanitizers and are procuring non-alcohol sanitizer products..why isn't Baltimore?
good insight at http://www.handhygienefacts.blogspot.com

A student at Connexions recently came down with H1N1. Many parents have pulled their children from schools in the complex until the issue is resolved.

My school has neither. The stalls do not have doors. The toilet paper holders are broken, so rolls of paper are often on the floor and placed back on the broken holders to be used. The boys restroom floods daily because the urinals back up. The floors are not mopped on a daily basis. Then, children often play, climb, and crawl in there. The restroom conditions at my school are sad.

We have hand sanitizer in all of the rooms which was provided to us. I have anti-bacterial cleaning wipes that I regularly use on furniture, etc. and tissues for the kids, both of which I purchased myself. I can't speak for the student bathrooms, but staff bathrooms have soap and paper towels. Despite how I feel about purchasing my own supplies, this is the reality of working in schools -- and is consistent across the multiple MD systems I have worked in. I have learned to buy what I need myself.

I have been in several city schools. It has been the rare occasion when there are paper towels or soap in the bathrooms. (teacher's bathrooms, as well) There is NO hot water and no tissues.As part of my weekly food shopping I buy tissues, hand soap, now sanitizer, paper towels and cleaning products. I wipe down desks and tables at least once a day and sometimes twice. The custodial staffs are bare bones but even when there were more they rarely did anything! I have always done my own cleaning. Any so called flu plan is on paper only!!!! Like so much else. If North Avenue tells you otherwise, go to some schools and use the student bathrooms.

I think this leads to a bigger issue - the conditions of the restrooms in schools.

half the time when I go to the bathroom at school there is no soap. and as for the condition of bathrooms, today I heard the girls complaining about water on the floor of the bathroom... and when I went in, when a toilet was flushed, water/sewage flowed up from a drain. the kids were walking in sewage. our buildings are crumbling around us, but the teachers buy the kleenex...

Stop worrying about soap and teach the kids. The public is tired of the old excuses. Health is overrated. I like kids's health, but I like their education more. But you don't like kids' education, and that's especially sad because you're teachers. And don't lie! I pay people to read this blog and make sure there is no hyperbole that could make the great schools or me look bad. I am good. If I could clone myself, I would make enough of me to teach all the great kids in this city. In the whole world. But I am only one man. I cannot do it alone. I can only lead. I am doing my best to make sure you don't get paid well until you get your kids to do well on the test or until you cheat on it.

In Professional Development Center on Northern Pkwy recently. No drinkable water available. No soap or paper towels in the first floor bathroom.

I've worked in schools that do not have hot, or even warm, running water in the restroom.

My principal just put up hand sanitizers in multiple places on every floor along with signs for the students. I hope the students respect the investment in their health.

i think we should stop wasting all the soap in the bathrooms cause our teachers aint even rich they is like ok

we need soap and tissue at our school cause we never have any ughhh !