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Schools spread word: 'It's OK to be sick': H1N1 Virus: As absentee levels rise due to flu symptoms, principals urge teachers to be flexible and offer to help ill students catch up
Oct 28, 2009 (The Olympian - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
South Sound teachers, students and schools have had to be more flexible as most districts have experienced elevated levels of student absences because of flulike symptoms in the past few weeks.
Michael T. Simmons Elementary School Principal Trisha Smith said she advised the teachers at her Tumwater school to be flexible in their lessons if certain classrooms are experiencing high levels of absenteeism.
"If you're missing a few students and it's a very important concept and you need to wait, use your judgment," she said.
"We want to maintain good attendance, but we want to encourage students and parents to stay home if they're not feeling well," said Principal Mike McDonald of Lakes Elementary School in Lacey. "We will work with their child, and we will help them make up lost work."
Peter Rex, spokesman for the Olympia School District, said principals are advising students that teachers will work with them to make sure they make up any work missed because of illness.
"We are communicating flexibility for everybody involved, to make sure that students stay healthy and keep up with their work," he said. "Sometimes you have a student who says, 'I have to be there Friday. I have a test.' For those situations, we want to make sure that the kids have the opportunity to make up that test when they're well."
Most school districts in the county have or have had absentee rates of more than 10 percent because of students out with flulike symptoms, and some have had absentee rates of more than 20 percent, said Sherri McDonald, director of Thurston County Public Health and Social Services.
Health officials think the symptoms are from the H1N1 influenza virus, a strain of influenza A that can be more contagious than other flus because most humans have not yet been exposed to it. Although doctors no longer routinely test for H1N1 in people with flulike symptoms, the virus has been confirmed in Thurston County. Symptoms are similar to those of seasonal flu and include a fever of more than 100 degrees, coughing, sneezing and headaches.
Some school districts were hit hard by illness early in the year. The Tenino School District reported that 34 percent of students were out with flulike symptoms earlier this month, but the wave of illness in that district seems to be subsiding to below 10 percent this week, McDonald said.
However, other districts are seeing an upswing in cases of flulike symptoms. This week, Yelm Community Schools reported absentee rates in the middle school and elementary schools of between 15 percent and 23 percent, she said. St. Michael School reported 17 percent absenteeism, and Cornerstone Christian School reported 27 percent.
Smith said that at Michael T. Simmons, some classrooms were hit suddenly, and more than 10 percent of students were absent with flulike symptoms last week. The absentee rate was between 5 percent and 8 percent this week.
"We were having normal attendance rates, and we came back to school on Monday, and our phones were ringing off the hook," she said, adding that the flu hit some classrooms harder than others. "There are some teachers who can't believe we're having these absence rates, and they are not seeing anyone in their classrooms missing."
McDonald said that in some classrooms at his school, teachers have had to postpone lessons because too many students were out sick.
"For one of our first-grade classrooms that had 10 students absent, that's 10 students out of a class of 25," he said. "They're hesitant to teach a brand-new skill, if you have more than a third of a class absent."
Districts report to the Health Department when 10 percent of students call in sick with the same symptoms, and schools are asking parents to describe symptoms when they report that their children are ill.
Diana Yu, health officer of Thurston County Public Health, said that the school cases appear to be leveling off, but now she is concerned about elevated illness levels in adults.
School absenteeism is "not higher than it was three weeks ago. We're kind of a peak level, but that might be wishful thinking on my part," she said.
Yu advised parents to devise ways to care for family members ill with flulike symptoms while avoiding catching the bug themselves -- for example, assigning only one caretaker for an ill family member.
Maddy deGive, North Thurston School District executive director of student support, said that the district has taken extra steps, including e-mails, letters and phone messages, to reassure families that students will get the help and education they need when they return.
"It's OK to be sick, (and) if you really are sick, stay away from the classroom. We'll help you and support you when you come back," she said. "Not that the support wasn't there before, but it may be necessary to communicate that."
Smith said she doesn't want parents to overreact to the illness, but to make sure that families take the usual precautions for avoiding illness.
"It's not because they are at school that students are getting the flu. They could get it at the gym; they could be getting it at the store," she said. "We're a reflection of the community."
McDonald said that the awareness of the flu seems to be changing behavior in good ways too.
"It's reinforcing what we've always taught, but very definitely, it's changing habits. Students are just naturally washing their hands. They're using the hand sanitizer," he said. "Little kids always cough into their sleeve. Even our youngest kindergartners, if they cough without covering, that's unusual and someone will comment to them and teach them. The heightened awareness is really making a difference, and I hope in the long run it will make a difference in the way we behave and our habits."
Venice Buhain: 360-754-5445
vbuhain@theolympian.com
www.theolympian.com/edblog
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