or just erring on the side of precaution?!
Maybe a little of both.
The way the local powers that be chose to handle the outbreak of H1N1 in one local elementary was to close ALL of the schools in the county. At the time, there were 2 probable cases of the flu. While I understand the need to keep the spread to a minimum, I believe closing all of the schools was extreme. It has caused a bit of a panic and a lot of stress.
As of Saturday afternoon, one local system has closed all of their elementary schools for TWO weeks due to one confirmed case of H1N1 flu per CDC guidelines.
Unfortunately, none of us have an immunity to this virus and it COULD spread like wildfire through the community. I think it's important to remind everyone that the way to minimize the spread is proper hygiene - lots of hand washing, don't touch your eyes/nose/mouth, cleaning commonly touched items thoroughly and if you are running a fever or exhibiting flu-like symptoms, STAY home. I work in an elementary school computer lab and have kids sneeze/cough all over the equipment all the time. Since I don't want to get sick, I take precautions after every class. I spray every keyboard/mouse/chair with Lysol. I can't tell you how many cans of that stuff I've gone through this year. So far, my efforts have paid off.
Now that we've missed (for now) 2 days of school, I'm wondering what the School Board is going to recommend we do about these days. My suggestion is to extend the school day by an hour instead of tacking days on at the end. The logistics may prove to be more difficult, especially when dealing with multiple class periods. Then again, the Board may just waive the days due to extenuating circumstances.
We'll find out today at 1:00pm when the Health Department and local school system superintendents hold a news conference whether or not the rest of us return to school on Monday, 5/4.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I am afraid we may soon be facing the same problem. Last week three parents, of children in our school, decided they were taking their Mexican vacation, "no matter what". Are they going to come back infected? Who knows...
Wishing you the best of luck with this situation.
Did you see the press conf? I was really impressed with the 3rd guy - I believe the state health officer. He really explained it well. I would think that the younger grades can miss some days without really needing to make them up.
We are heading back tomorrow, but they did say anyone with symptoms of ANYTHING will be sent home. LOL.
Yes, I saw the press conference. They were fairly vague on the elementary schools in the county, even though Harvest is closed until 5/14. The third guy was very good. I just wish that the County school superintendent would come out and confirm who is going back and who is not.
I imagine that anything short of the sniffles will be sent home over the course of the next week. This is ridiculous.
I'm just thrilled that the middle and high schools are going back. There is still so much to do between now and the end of the year.
Post a Comment