Trip to Africa keeps Friendswood teacher out of classroom

FRIENDSWOOD, TX (KTRK) -- An elementary school teacher will not return to school for 21 days after she returns from Africa.

The second grade teacher works at Cline Elementary. She is on a family vacation in Tanzania. The Friendswood Independent School District sent a letter home to parents, informing them of the teacher's trip and its decision to keep her out of school for 21 days when she gets back.

"To minimize concern about exposure from plane trips home, people that were in the cities or at the airports, we have informed the teacher that she will not return to her classroom for 21 days once she returns to Friendswood," Cline Elementary Principal Barry Clifford said in the letter.

Several parents agree with the decision. Stephanie Ploeger's daughter is in the second grade.

"I know that it's probably a very, very overly conservative reaction, but when it's your kids, definitely," Ploeger said, "I think they made the right choice and I'm really glad they did."

The teacher is in Tanzania, which is more than 3,000 miles away from any country with cases of Ebola. That distance is farther than the distance between Miami and Seattle.

UTMB Doctor David Callender said he would not have advised the school system to keep the teacher home.

"But then again, they're thinking about this from the perspective of the absolute safety of their students, and so that's really their decision," Callender said, "But from a disease control perspective, it's not something that's really necessary."

Nevertheless, many parents say they would rather play it safe.

"I want them to take every precaution they can to ensure the kids are safe," Michael Heineman said.

Eyewitness News spoke with the teacher's father. He said this precaution is a little bit extreme, but that his daughter understands the school community's concerns.