Sorenne will not be going to the Brisbane Grammar School for grades 6-12. It’s not the $20,000 a year in tuition, another $20,000 a year for boarding, the $400 for the privilege of applying or that it’s an all-boys school.
I have problems when a school with such a fee structure – or any school — relies on volunteers to run the tuckshop that offers breakfast and lunch, and when a volunteer contracts hepatitis A, the best the school can come up with is, the canteen abides by the proper standards and, “Full food-handling protocol is followed in the school.”
I don’t know what full food-handling protocol is, but some details would be nice. Maybe even a vaccination requirement for all volunteers.
The Courier Mail reports the school told its community by letter on Tuesday, on the urging of public health authorities, that they were under a low-level risk of Hepatitis A.
"We were told a volunteer worker had subsequently been diagnosed with Hep A after she had worked at the canteen,” said a spokeswoman.
"The public health authority spoke to the worker, figured out what she did and when they found out it involved food, as a precautionary measure asked the school to advise everyone. The risk is deemed to be extremely low."