Health Work In The Public Schools Part 4

3. The first work of this kind in Cleveland started in 1900 when tests were made of defective vision. In 1906 the Health Department provided inspectors for contagious diseases in the schools. In the same year inspection for physical defects was undertaken; the first dispensary in the United States was established at the Murray Hill School, and school nurses were appointed. In 1909 the Division of Health Supervision and Inspection became part of the regular school system.

4. The Division handles inspection for contagious disease, inspection for physical and mental defects, follow-up work for the remedying of defects, health instruction, recommendations of children to special cla.s.ses, school lunches, gardens, and playgrounds. Every child is examined every year.

5. Cleveland has 86 dispensaries. In every case lighting, ventilation, and equipment are good. It is probably true that these dispensaries are of better grade than those of any other large city in the United States.

6. Dental clinics are now conducted in four public schools by the Cleveland Auxiliary of the National Mouth Hygiene a.s.sociation. This work has now reached a point where it should be taken over and administered as a part of the public school system. The function of a private organization is to experiment and demonstrate. It cannot eventuate on a large scale, and it should not if it could. The function of a public organization is to eventuate on a large scale. It can seldom experiment, and it lacks freedom and flexibility in demonstration. The Mouth Hygiene a.s.sociation has experimented and demonstrated successfully. Its work should now be a.s.sumed, continued, and extended by the Division of Medical Inspection.

7. The eye clinic conducted by the Division at the Brownell School is doing excellent work. As the system grows, this clinic should be supplied with more workers. The Cleveland College for Barbers gives an excellent free service in many of the schools. There are no other clinics. Mental examinations are made by a special teacher appointed for that purpose. All surgical cases are referred to family physicians or local hospitals for treatment.

8. Medical inspectors are mature men, graduates of well-known medical schools, with a fairly wide private practice. The school nurses are all registered nurses.

9. The number of school nurses should be increased as rapidly as possible until one nurse is provided on full time for every 2000 children enrolled in school. This would mean the employment of 11 additional nurses, increasing the staff from 27 to 34. As the population increases, more nurses should be added.

10. Office consultations between parents and physicians are among the most important activities of the Division and should be systematically encouraged. To this end arrangements should be made whereby definite hours for parent consultations are a.s.signed to each school.

11. The Division of Medical Inspection has so organized its work that the attention of the staff is concentrated upon a different set of problems each year. This method is unquestionably effective in promoting growth and maintaining the interest of the staff. Care should be taken, however, to provide that within each four-year period special emphasis be laid upon the discovery and cure of each of the more important defects. Some plan should be adopted by the staff whereby effort may be concentrated on discovering and remedying defects at those ages where such expenditure of time and energy will secure the largest returns.

12. Adequate provision should be made for the correction of speech defects. Cla.s.ses in speech training should be established under the direction of a teacher specially trained in this work.

13. Standardization of work is an especially noteworthy feature of the Cleveland system, and should furnish valuable suggestions to medical inspection departments of other cities. Through this standardization the same terms have uniform meanings when used by different members of the staff, and constant standards are employed in detecting and recording defects.

14. There are probably more than 50,000 unvaccinated children now in the Cleveland schools. Immediate steps should be taken to see to it that every child now in school is vaccinated, and that no child is admitted to school hereafter without similar protection. Princ.i.p.als, teachers, and parents should be held responsible for violation of the vaccination ordinance.

15. The Division of Medical Inspection should plan steadily to enlarge its field of activity in order to provide in constantly increasing measure better working conditions in the schools and to train the children into habits of health that shall be life-long. It is probable that the health work in the Cleveland public schools is unsurpa.s.sed by that of any other city in the country. The city now has an opportunity to lead the way into vastly important forward extensions looking toward the provision of health insurance for future generations.

16. Under the present organization, the official in charge of health work is responsible to the director of schools in part of his activities and to the superintendent in the rest of them. He should be responsible to the city superintendent alone, for health work in the public schools is education and not business.

CLEVELAND EDUCATION SURVEY

SECTIONAL REPORTS

These reports can be secured from the Survey Committee of the Cleveland Foundation, Cleveland, Ohio. They will be sent postpaid for 25 cents per volume with the exception of "Measuring the Work of the Public Schools" by Judd, "The Cleveland School Survey" by Ayres, and "Wage Earning and Education" by Lutz. These three volumes will be sent for 50 cents each. All of these reports may be secured at the same rates from the Division of Education of the Russell Sage Foundation, New York City.

Child Accounting in the Public Schools--Ayres.

Educational Extension--Perry.

Education through Recreation--Johnson.

Financing the Public Schools--Clark.

Health Work in the Public Schools--Ayres.

Household Arts and School Lunches--Boughton.

Measuring the Work of the Public Schools--Judd.

Overcrowded Schools and the Platoon Plan--Hartwell.

School Buildings and Equipment--Ayres.

Schools and Cla.s.ses for Exceptional Children--Mitch.e.l.l.

School Organization and Administration--Ayres.

The Public Library and the Public Schools.

The School and the Immigrant.

The Teaching Staff--Jessup.

What the Schools Teach and Might Teach--Bobbitt.

The Cleveland School Survey (Summary volume)--Ayres.

Boys and Girls in Commercial Work--Stevens.

Department Store Occupations--O'Leary.

Dressmaking and Millinery--Bryner.

Railroad and Street Transportation--Fleming.

The Building Trades--Shaw.

The Garment Trades--Bryner.

The Metal Trades--Lutz.

The Printing Trades--Shaw.

Wage Earning and Education (Summary volume)--Lutz.