Parent Letter Regarding Flu
September 04, 2009
Dear Parent/Guardian,
Information abounds in newspapers, radio,
television, and the internet regarding the onset of the flu season.
What makes the upcoming flu season unique, however, is the arrival
of the H1N1 virus. Like the seasonal influenza, H1N1 presents
symptoms of coughing, sore throat, fever, body ache, headache, and
a runny nose. For some people, even vomiting and/or diarrhea can be
a cause for concern. Unfortunately, some of these symptoms may
describe how some of us have felt recently.
As you know, seasonal influenza and H1N1
can easily be spread from person to person. So, since we want to
insure the good health of our students and keep the school
functioning in a normal manner during this flu season, we need your
help more than ever. As a school district we are working with the
Four Corners Health Department and the Memorial Health Care Systems
to monitor the flu and based upon their information we will make
decisions about the best steps to take concerning our school. We
will keep you updated with new information as it becomes
available.
Should the flu become more severe, Milford Public Schools will take
the necessary steps to help prevent the flu from spreading. The
steps we take will be coordinated with local health agencies. For
now we are doing everything we can to minimize the transfer of the
flu virus. To help us do so please consider the following things
you and your families can do to help:
➢ Remind or teach your children to wash their hands often with soap
and water or use an alcohol-based hand rub. You can set a good
example by doing this yourself.
➢ Remind or teach your children not to share personal items like
drinks, food or unwashed utensils, and to cover their coughs and
sneezes with tissues. Another option is to cover coughs or sneezes
with an elbow, arm or sleeve instead of the hand when a tissue is
unavailable.
➢ Know the signs and symptoms of the flu. Symptoms of the flu
include coughing, sore throat, a fever of 100 degrees or higher,
body aches, headache, a runny or stuffy nose, and/or feeling very
tired. For some people, even vomiting or diarrhea can occur.
➢ Keep sick children at home for at least 24 hours after they no
longer have a fever without using fever-reducing drugs. Keeping
children with a fever at home will reduce the incidence of
infection.
➢ Do not send children to school if they are sick. Any children who
are determined to be sick while at school will be sent home.
➢ On the back of this letter, you will find some guidance for
informing the school about a sick child(ren). Please call the
office as usual, but note that we will be asking for symptom
information. This will allow us to work with Four Corners Health
Department and track the number of cases in the District. So if you
leave a message on the answering system, please share symptoms for
record keeping purposes.
➢ NOTE – only numbers of students and symptoms are shared with
health agencies – no student names are ever shared.
I encourage you to visit www.flu.gov for the most current
information about the flu. Our staff will educate the students on
hand washing and prevention strategies as best we can, but we would
appreciate your help disseminating the information listed
above.
Respectfully,
Kevin Wingard
Superintendent
Milford Public Schools
