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Hernando Today

Parents Angered About Child's Injury, No Note

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By LINNEA BROWN

Hernando Today

Published: September 5, 2008

BROOKSVILLE - The parents of a local first-grader want to know why they weren't contacted when their child received an injury on the school's playground.

Brooksville residents Alan and Marque Langley said they were shocked when their 6-year-old daughter arrived home from school last week with two small Band-Aids on the palm of her right hand, barely covering a penny-sized, circular burn mark.

The child, Onyx, said she received the burn when she touched hot metal monkey bars on the school's playground during recess.

But the parents say there was no note sent home from the teacher and clinic regarding the injury, which is preventing their daughter - who is right-handed - from writing. The injury prevented her from attending school the morning of Aug. 28.

"There is nothing here informing me, as a parent, of the accident," Alan Langley said, displaying the agenda that Onyx's first-grade teacher stamps each day, with space to write notes home to the parents.

The agenda had been stamped, but no note - though on a previous day, the space contained a note that Onyx's water bottle had leaked.

"You're going to send home a letter about that, and not this?" Alan Langley asked. "Now here's my child missing school for a third-degree burn. There was no medical care, and they sent her home with a Band-Aid."

On Aug. 28, the Langleys met with the nurse, teacher and school's principal, Debi Vermette, who later addressed the issue with the teacher privately, Superintendent Wayne Alexander said.

"It was addressed at the building level," he said.

Alexander said that typically, any child who is injured is treated in the school's clinic and sent home with a note from the school nurse.

"It's a judgment by the teacher," he said. "Our teachers always go beyond teaching (school subjects) and make judgments to keep kids safe. The teacher chose to put a Band-Aid on the student's hand and thought that was sufficient, but we always want to err on the side of caution."

"Always sending kids to the clinic is the expectation that we have - let the clinic make the judgment on that situation," Alexander added, and said it should not happen again.

However, prior to meeting with school officials, the Langleys said they waited for 40 minutes at the district office to speak to him about the incident, with no luck.

While the Langleys said they feel fairly confident the situation has been taken care of at the school level, they felt frustrated that there wasn't someone there to listen.

Alexander said he was aware that someone came in to speak to him that morning, but said he was in a meeting. They left before he could respond, he said.

"If you stop by unannounced, I will do everything I can to get to you as soon as humanly possible," he said. "We do our best."

Reporter Linnea Brown can be reached at 352-544-5289 or lbrown@hernandotoday.com.

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