Rachel Rogers tells us how she made important changes at her daughter Mary’s school to benefit the health of all students. Rachel has championed proper hand hygiene at school while battling something all parents can relate to – feeling like ‘that’ parent.
What prompted you to start this process?
Back in 2016, my daughter Mary was about to start Kindy and I had arranged to speak with her class teacher to discuss all things CF. Her teacher was amazing and took everything on board, which was incredibly reassuring. When it came to talking about coughs, colds and hand hygiene, however, I discovered that students would be sharing cloth towels to dry their hands.
Why was this important to you?
On a basic level, sharing cloth towels between three and four-year-olds that naturally have highly questionable personal habits just didn’t make sense. From a CF perspective, reducing the risk of infection and potential consequences is always the primary goal.
What steps did you take?
I outlined my concerns with the Kindy teacher and we made arrangements for Mary to have her own disposable paper towels to use, however, the rest of the class continued to share towels. Although this didn’t feel right, I was hesitant to speak up for fear of being ‘that’ parent so soon into our school experience, and none of the other parents seemed at all concerned.
Pre-primary rolled around and so did an impetigo notification letter, which was a key turning point. By then I was much more confident to advocate for the student body, so I spoke with our class teacher who agreed that moving away from cloth towels was something she was supportive of. After that, it was a collaborative decision with the school administration to discontinue shared towels and install paper towel dispensers in all Kindy and Pre-Primary areas.
The next stage was more challenging, as although the younger students were now taken care of, students from Years 1 to 6 had no provisions in the main toilet block and had been wiping their hands on their clothes since the school opened over a 100 years ago.
What challenges did you face?
Where to begin?! The main challenge is that currently, there is no Department of Education policy for minimum hand hygiene requirements in WA schools. Instead, there are guidelines, but they do not include hand drying, and so it is up to each school to determine whether or not this is important.
I felt it was important to get the school on board so all our students could benefit from an environment supportive to health, not just my child. There was some resistance but taking the time to listen and understand the school’s perspective ultimately helped me find solutions and present a better case.
It took about a year of emails, a presentation to the P&C – actually joining the P&C just to talk about school toilets – and a chat with my local MP to keep the conversation going. In that time, I learned about the demands of school budgets, how other local schools manage paper towel misuse, decibels v hand drying times, costs and environmental impact, and the patience of washroom suppliers.
In 2018, hand dryers were installed in the main toilet block.
What advice would you give to other parents that want to make a change in their community?
Firstly, your voice is important, and your contribution matters especially when it comes to the health and well-being of your child. Some changes can come about quite easily with a chat with the right person; others can take a lot longer and require more work and persistence.
Keep in mind the change you want to see and the reasons for it, but always go in ready to listen and understand any barriers and be prepared to work together to find solutions. In a school setting, for example, there are many competing issues and very little budget, so getting involved as much as you can to meaningfully facilitate change can bring about a better chance of a positive outcome.
Identifying partnerships and support networks such as CFWA is also important and can provide additional credibility to your position or case. It can also give a much-needed boost, as persuading people to care about the issue enough to adopt change can be hard but the impact of positive change can be far-reaching.
Finally, don’t forget to celebrate the small wins.
If you need support or resources for your own advocacy work in the school environment, contact our Education Coordinator, Maggie, at 08 6457 7337 or education@cfwa.org.au.
Article from RED Magazine, Edition 1, 2020.