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Dear Mrs. Wilkes, In response to your note of this morning, May 25th, my conversation with Mrs. Carlton concerned the activity day in the swampy wooded area behind the school. It is a haven for ticks. Deer ticks and Lyme disease were my only concern in objecting to the journey into the woods. Madison participated in the same activity last year and came home with a tick that Christian found and removed before it had penetrated his skin. I immediately drove to the school and apprised the substitute principal of what had happened. I expressed my concerns about the danger that the children were being exposed to, more so because the teacher suggested that shorts be worn. I expected him to inform the other parents of the tick we found and suggest that they closely inspect their children immediately. I also expected that the activity would be abandoned in the future. He did nothing. This morning by pure accident I happened to see the note about today’s activity into the woods. I was upset about the fact that it was going to occur again. It was fortunate that the tick was noticed in time last year. I was not about to test our luck a second time so on my way to work I stopped to see Mrs. Carlton. She was not available but called me at work a short time later. She thought that I was over-reacting and suggested that I could use bug spray, or any number of other protections. She told me of her experience with her son’s tick bite and attempted to convince me that she knew what she was talking about. I persisted and she said that the activity would still go on, weather permitting, and that if I insisted on keeping Madison from engaging in the event that he would also have to stay inside during recess because he would also be exposed to ticks on the playground and in the “woods” that the children walk through to get to the playground. I took umbrage at her veiled threat of reprisal against Madison and pressed on about the nature of the activity; environmental awareness and the preciousness of water. I discussed with her my experiences with the environmental extremism of the curriculum. She suggested that the school teaches facts and that my “opinion” could be considered extremist. That was when I told her of the factual inconsistencies that included but were not limited to the 5-7 gallon toilet issue that you and I had discussed. If you recall, I told you that Christian had also been exposed to the same misinformation in Mrs. Owen’s class. Mrs. Carlton dug herself a pretty deep hole and her tenor took an abrupt change when I presented the facts of the matter. She took the opportunity to sidetrack the real reason for my visit to the school and deflected responsibility in your direction. I did not tell her that I was waiting for a response from you. I simply responded to her question of how you resolved my complaint, which was a great deal better than she was doing. I told her that you didn’t believe that Madison’s Take-Home Reader stated 5-7 gallons but that you would go back and check. After getting off the phone I called the Rensselaer County Health Dept and talked to a real expert about the Deer Tick’s habitat. It does not live in dirt, dry or short grass environments like that of the playground or among the few trees that the children walk past to get to it. The ticks require wet environments, leaf litter and the low shrubbery that they are afforded in the woods. When they get onto an individual they will find a moist spot on the body like behind the ears or knees, inside of elbows or arm pits. The Health Dept is sending or has already sent more information about this to the school and Mrs. Carlton assured me that she would expedite its distribution. Regards, David Crawmer
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