Harlandale ISD student free of scabies, not able to return to class

Student gets second opinion clearing him of scabies

SAN ANTONIO – A seventh-grader sent home from school suspected of scabies has not been allowed to return to school, despite a second medical opinion clearing him of the skin disease.

Abraham Munoz was sent home from Terrell Wells Middle School on April 6 after school staff believed he might have scabies on a finger.

Staff members have been inspecting students periodically after a scabies outbreak within Harlandale ISD that had infected 25 students and one teacher as of April 8.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, scabies is a skin disease caused by a skin infestation of a mite.

Veronica Caceres, Abraham's mother, says the school referred her son to the Harlandale ISD School Based Health Center on the campus of Collier Elementary.

"They just looked at his hand from a distance and said, 'Oh yeah, that's scabies,'" Caceres said.

But Caceres says the spots on her son's finger have been there for years without spreading and do not itch.

Caceres says no one else in their household has been infected.

Faced with the possibility of paying more than $100 for scabies treatment, Caceres sought a second opinion.

"That's the frustration, that I have to pay that $100 and something for the medication, which is not necessary," said Caceres.

A second opinion from the emergency room at Mission Trail Baptist Hospital documented that Abraham had "no scabies" and could return to school the next day, April 10.

But Caceres said it did not turn out to be so easy.

"The nurse said she wasn't going to allow him back to school unless he came back with the medication and that note," Caceres said. "But I had already gotten a second opinion that it wasn't, so I didn't see why he needed to go back to the school with the medication."

Caceres said while she understands the need to screen students with caution, she wants her son back in class.

The only thing spreading at their home, she said, is the worry over what he's missing.

"Studying for the STAAR test," she said. "All last week, he missed out on that."

A Harlandale ISD spokesperson told KSAT 12 Monday that any student with medical documentation confirming they do not have scabies would be allowed back on campus.

When asked why that hasn't been the case for Abraham Munoz, HISD responded by saying it resolved the problem and Munoz is allowed back at school on Tuesday, April 14.

You can contact the Defenders at 210-351-1212 or by emailing defenders@ksat.com.


About the Author:

Myra Arthur is passionate about San Antonio and sharing its stories. She graduated high school in the Alamo City and always wanted to anchor and report in her hometown. Myra anchors KSAT News at 6:00 p.m. and hosts and reports for the streaming show, KSAT Explains. She joined KSAT in 2012 after anchoring and reporting in Waco and Corpus Christi.