Perfume Attacks

Re “Teacher Fights Alleged Perfume Harassment,” Jan 15:

How refreshing to hear that a teacher is actually going to be protected (at least nominally) from perfume attacks. As a fellow sufferer, I fully appreciate her problem, having been forced to teach from the doorway of my classroom on more than one occasion. Instead of fighting the system, I elected to move from the high school to the community college environment.

Students (and their parents) would be well advised to take this issue seriously. Most employers won’t even interview someone who reeks (from the latest “hot” fragrance). Fragrance has a time and place, and it definitely is not in the classroom.

MICHELE COLBORN HARRIS

Lancaster

*

It is not as though schools don’t have enough to deal with, without a Judith Sanderson, the Culver City teacher with chemical intolerance. If you can’t lift 20 pounds, you can’t be a delivery person; if you can’t be around people without breaking into flu-like symptoms, you can’t be a teacher. There is no way a school, or any public place, can be made safe for a person with her degree of chemical intolerance.

CRISTI HENDRY

Temecula

*

Sanderson is a perfect example of the rights of one outweighing the rights of all others. The school is going to outrageous--and extremely expensive--lengths to protect chemically intolerant Sanderson from the ravages of fragrances.

But who is protecting the students? No one should be able to prohibit others from their freedom of choice regarding shampoos, colognes and deodorants. Don’t Sanderson’s pre-admission sniffs at the classroom door and surveillance cameras constitute student harassment?

Perhaps Sanderson should consider a disability leave.

RAE DeVITO

Hermosa Beach