Hand sanitizer here, not there as flu prep goes in fits, starts

By Emily Richmond

Friday, Sept. 25, 2009 | 2 a.m.

After fielding dozens of calls from parents concerned about the upcoming flu season, Principal Tam Larnerd decided to provide each of his classroom teachers with hand sanitizer, spending about $450 in school supply money for 60 large bottles at Sam’s Club.

He could have used the Clark County School District’s online purchasing system, and would have paid a slightly higher price — 13 cents per ounce for the name brand, compared with 10 cents per ounce for the discount warehouse’s own product. And he would have gotten free delivery.

Purchasing hand sanitizer through the district’s online system has other benefits too — no tax and the product is more sanitary than the Sam’s Club brand because it has a self-contained refill mechanism, so you’re not unscrewing the top of a bottle when you refill it.

But Larnerd, principal of Bob Miller Middle School in Henderson’s Green Valley, said he wasn’t aware that the district’s online catalog included hand sanitizer until he was asked about it by the Sun.

“Let’s just say this is not something that’s well-advertised,” Larnerd said.

He later found hand sanitizer listed under “custodial supplies,” but couldn’t immediately locate the bulk order option that would bring the price down to near the discount warehouse price. Instead, the largest bottle he could find was 12 ounces for $5.60, or 47 cents per ounce.

At that price, it’s certainly a less attractive purchase for a principal, Larnerd said.

For the most part, the district lets principals decide for themselves which supplies to purchase. Hand sanitizer is one of the many optional items that teachers often end up paying for themselves. And teachers are digging a little deeper into their own pockets this year — the $200 purchasing cards that the district used to hand out every year were eliminated as part of the $120 million in budget cuts.

"Given everything else that’s expected of teachers, the least the district could do is provide hand sanitizer for the classrooms,” said Ruben Murillo, president of the Clark County Education Association, which represents the majority of the licensed personnel.

And it’s not just about keeping children healthy, Murillo said. When teachers are out sick it means disruptions to instruction, which can also hurt students.

With concerns rising about the possibility of a massive outbreak of the H1N1 virus, also known as “swine flu,” might it be time for an executive order on hand sanitizers?

Clark County Schools Superintendent Walt Rulffes said for now the district will continue to take its cue from local and state health officials, which so far have not recommended that hand sanitizer become a campus staple. The district is instead focusing on an intensive campaign to get more students washing their hands regularly, and reminding them frequently about routing their coughs and sneezes into the crooks of their elbows.

Hand-washing with warm water and soap is still the best way to cut down on the spread of germs, said Martha Framsted, spokeswoman for the Nevada State Health Division. Hand sanitizers are useful when soap and water aren’t available, but shouldn’t be considered a substitute.

At Miller, teachers say they’re concerned by the level of illness they’re already seeing among students just a month into the academic year. While no confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus have been reported at the middle school, some Miller students have been ill with influenza A, the seasonal flu, as well as colds and coughs that have kept them at home for up to a week at a time.

But Chet Christner, who teaches geography at Miller, isn’t convinced that hand sanitizer will make much of a difference in the long run. If his principal hadn’t provided it, Christner said he wouldn’t have bought it.

James Kuzmaa, who recently became principal of Rancho High School after eight years at Hyde Park Middle School, has never purchased hand sanitizer as a basic campus supply. He noticed a bottle of it in the lunch room at his daughter’s elementary school, and initially thought it was a good idea he might want to copy.

But after further reflection, Kuzmaa said he’s holding off on buying it for his entire school, until there’s more concrete evidence that it’s a benefit. He is planning on getting a modest supply for use in the locker rooms, but not just as a countermeasure against H1N1.

Rather, Kuzmaa wants to combat drug-resistant staph infections, particularly one nicknamed “MRSA,” which is prevalent among student athletes, spreads easily and can be difficult to treat.

“To be honest,” Kuzmaa said, “MRSA scares me a lot more than swine flu.”