Superintendent’s Corner by Steve Patz
Wow! Where has the summer gone? Summer school has ended, all of the summer ball teams are finished, and school started this past Monday!
There are a couple of changes that will be occurring this year. The first change we are extremely excited about and that is the ability for you, the parent, to be able to check the progress of your student daily. This includes grades and homework assignments. We are in the process of finalizing everything with our new student management system, which will allow a parent to use their secret password to check on assignments and the progress of their student. We are going to work hard to try and get a 48-hour turn around on grades. This will allow a parent to see the grade of a test that is taken on Monday on Wednesday and no later than Thursday. You will be able to access this information through our website. You will receive more information as school gets closer.
The second issue is the H1N1 virus. This is a concern for everyone in our community. We are already working with our local health department on this issue. Our focus will be on prevention. We are inservicing our entire staff and will be disinfecting classrooms on a daily basis. We also need your help. We ask that you stress to your son or daughter, no matter whether they are 5 or 17, to wash their hands. This simple procedure is the single most important aspect in keeping the flu from spreading. We will periodically send home information regarding the virus as well as posting information on our website. All information that we send home and the steps that we will take as a school will be with the full knowledge of the local health department and will follow the guidelines of the State Health Department and the Center for Disease Control (CDC). We will not make-up our own guidelines. We believe that it is important to follow the experts’ advice on this issue and we plan to do so in every way possible.
The State Department of Health and the CDC are advising parents, schools, daycares, etc. that students who have the flu, whether it is H1N1 or not, should stay home until at least 24 hours after they are free of a fever (100 degrees or higher), or signs of a fever without the use of fever reducing medications. As a result, we will follow these organizations’ advice. While we know this can be a real hardship for parents, the most important item we do each day is to keep your student safe. We know that we will need to modify some of our policies and are presently working on those issues. We will also be following up with parents of students who have had the flu. The follow-up is required by the State, so please be patient with the staff who may call asking for some information.
It is important to know that the State Department of Health and the CDC are not advising schools to close if a student contracts H1N1. One reason for this advice is that those organizations believe isolation of the individuals will be enough to prevent the spread of the virus. If we do have a confirmed case, we will send a letter home to parents. This letter will not be to panic you but to assure you that we are trying to stay on top of this issue. However, we will not speculate on whether someone has the virus nor are we able to release any names. With the need to have all students with the flu out of school, the fact that they are out of school does not necessarily mean that they have the H1N1 virus. As a result, I would caution anyone in making assumptions.
As the school year progresses, we will make every attempt to keep everyone advised as to any changes in procedures that are recommended by the State Department of Health and the CDC. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at 438-2655, Jamie Works School RN at 438-2626, Regina Crouch County Health RN at 438-2551 or Dr. Art Jay County Health Officer at 438-2551.