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FLU SEASON MILD IN SCHOOLS, EDUCATION OFFICIALS SAY

By Scott Loftis/SPECIAL TO THE COMMERCIAL
Friday, October 2, 2009 9:28 PM CDT

Administrators with local school districts said Friday that student absentee rates have not risen significantly over the past two weeks despite the onset of flu season in Arkansas.

Superintendent Dr. Frank Anthony said the Pine Bluff School District had a “little problem” with student illness about three weeks ago but that the absentee rate is now about 1 percent, which he said is typical. The Pine Bluff district has about 5,000 students.

“So far, so good,” Anthony said. “We’ve done a lot of preventive methods … hand washing, providing sanitizer in the rooms. We’ve done some precautionary things.”

Anthony said the Pine Bluff district will be holding immunization clinics at each campus over the next couple of weeks.

“We’ve got our fingers crossed,” Anthony said. “As far as hitting us yet, it hasn’t happened.”

Watson Chapel School District Danny Hazelwood said that district hasn’t experienced any significant problems, either.

“We’ve been about normal,” Hazelwood said. “We’ve been very fortunate. We’ve had just a minimal amount of flu or flu-like symptoms. We seem to be having some type of stomach virus going around, but that’s normal in school business. We have that, but nothing out of the ordinary. We’re keeping a close watch because of the H1N1 and right now we don’t have any red flags anywhere.”

The Watson Chapel district is also being cautious because of concerns about the swine flu, Hazelwood said.

“We’re just being extra careful,” he said. “We’re doing all the things that we’re told to do with handwashing and trying to limit contact with students, things of that nature,” he said.

Dr. Larry Smith, superintendent of White Hall schools, said his district had about 60 students out sick on Friday — about 2 percent of the district’s total student population.

“We’ve got strep going around, we’ve got a stomach virus going around and we’ve got some who actually have flu, and it’s a little hard to tell what it is,” Smith said. “ … It’s not really all that unusual on any given day that you’d have that percentage out, but we have had a little bout with it. The last couple of days it seems to have switched from our high school to the junior high. It made a little run through the high school last week and this week it seems to have made a little run through the junior high. Our elementary schools really haven’t had that much, at this point.”

Smith said the White Hall district also has tried to be proactive in keeping illness to a minimum.

“We’ve done a lot with our kids in trying to make sure that we’re washing hands,” he said. “Any time it’s been reported back to us that we have a confirmed diagnosis of flu we’re making sure we spray those rooms down and do some extra work on cleaning them and that may be helping hold that number to a minimum.

“It’s bothersome but it’s not overly severe by any stretch of the imagination, yet. Now it may get worse before it gets better but we’re taking the precautions right now and going ahead and having school.”

Dollarway School District Dr. Arthur Tucker couldn’t be reached for comment Friday.

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