BY TOM FONTANA
Correspondent

Susquehanna Community Schools superintendent Bronson Stone denied that there is an epidemic of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) infecting students.

During public comments at the board meeting on Wednesday night, Oct. 15, Betty Cobb, the parent of a Saber’s football player, asked why an outbreak of the viral infection among team members has been kept from the public.

“The locker room at the high school is filthy,” she pointed out. “There’s black mold on the walls and on the carpeting. Why is there even a carpet in a locker room?”

Stone said the district maintenance director Donnie Norris had the locker room cleaned and disinfected as recently as the past Monday, and that Stone had consulted with the school nurse about students reporting rashes.

“As far as we can tell,” Stone said, “the rashes of a few students are the result of a reaction to an antibiotic. If the entire team had been affected, the public would have been notified.”

Hand, foot and mouth disease is caused by a virus, and symptoms include a mild fever followed by a rash usually on hands, feet, and around the mouth. There is no treatment for HFMD, and it often subsides within three days of detection.

“According to the Pennsylvania Dept. of Health, it can only be contracted by skin-to-skin contact,” Stone stated. “So if it was an epidemic, more of the football players would have it. Only about nine students have reported a rash to the school nurse, and there are about 70 students in our football program.”

Stone added that HFMD is usually only contracted by children under 10 years of age.

“The carpet in the locker room isn’t causing hand, foot and mouth disease,” he concluded.

It was also explained that carpeting in the locker room has been used for several years to prevent football players from slipping on a bare concrete floor while wearing their football cleats.

“Well, my kid’s feet and hands are a mess,” Cobb protested, “and I believe whatever it is came from the locker room.”

Stone and Norris admitted that the locker room is often unkempt, and blamed the students.

“The locker room is regularly cleaned by our maintenance crew,” Stone said, “but these are students, and they have to learn how to pick up after themselves.”

In other business, the board approved a tentative lease agreement with NEPA Community Health Care to establish a clinic in the elementary school for use by district students, faculty and administrators for general health needs.

The daily teacher substitute rate was raised from $85 per day to $95 per day. “We have a shortage of substitute teachers this year,” Stone explained. “Maybe this increase in pay will encourage more people to apply.”

The annual compensation for the school athletic director will be increased to $3,250 started July 1, 2015, and game manager duties will be assigned to the athletic director.