Schools keep up fight for flu season

As concern over swine flu outbreaks spreads nationwide, schools in Elmont and Franklin Square are sticking to their game plan to prevent closings and event cancellations. So far, according to district officials in the area, everything is going according to plan.

“As of now, we have no reported cases of the H1N1 virus to date in our schools, and on a weekly basis our superintendent has a phone call with the Nassau County Board of Health,” Elmont Board of Education President Frank Ragona said. “We get continuous updates from the [Centers for Disease Control] and we have implemented all of their recommendations.”

Ragona also said that the housekeeping staff at the school is being instructed to be especially thorough in areas of Elmont schools that are common to every student. This includes being particularly vigilant in bathrooms and computer labs, keeping things like plumbing fixtures and keyboards clean. Ragona said that, above all, proper, frequent handwashing is the most important element in preventing the spread of swine flu in environments like schools and offices, where contact between students, teachers and administrative staff is almost a constant.

“Our keyboards are being wiped down regularly, and we’re just taking extra caution to maintain a cleaner environment,” he said.

In addition to keeping the schools themselves spotless, the board of education has been particularly quick to bring proper hygiene and flu prevention concerns to the parents, holding informal seminars at every PTA meeting to make sure that parents are briefed.

In the Sewanhaka Central High School District, the situation is much the same, with the school sticking to its decided-upon course before the school year.

So far, Superintendent Warren Meierdiercks said, things have gone smoothly.

“I’m happy to say that our schools are operational and functioning exactly the way we’d like them to,” he said. “We’re concerned, of course, but we’re vigilant. We’re just monitoring the situation and keeping our fingers crossed that the numbers stay where they are.”

Those numbers, according to Meierdiercks himself, show no alarming increase in the number of students out with flu-like symptoms.

“We’re monitoring absenteeism, and right now we’re seeing nothing out of the ordinary, no big spikes in absentee rates,” he said “We do have youngsters with flu-like symptoms that are out, but those are isolated cases, not too severe, there’s really nothing drastic right now.”

Sewanhaka, like Elmont, has weekly calls with the department of health with regard to flu prevention. Meierdiercks said the plan was for the school to stay on course, and count on parents’ and teachers’ abilities to instill a sense of healthy responsibility in their students.

“We’re just going to continue to encourage washing hands, good personal hygiene — all similar to what we put out last year — that’s what we stress,” he said.

In Franklin Square, the preparation for the flu was the same as other local schools.

“We essentially took the state’s guidance from the department of health,” Franklin Square interim Superintendent Anthony Pecorale said in an interview at the start of the school year. “We almost have to take this on a case by case basis. It’s not something that you can look at and say ‘one size fits all.’”

Franklin Square, is also in regular contact with the state in terms of keeping health officials abreast of their health situation.

Anne Schuchat of the Centers for Disease Control released a nationwide estimate of 22 million Americans having been infected with the swine flu as of Oct. 17, with less than 100,000 of that number hospitalized with serious cases.

Schuchat said that of an estimated 8 million Americans under 18 who have had the disease, 36,000 were hospitalized, with 540 deaths.

In addition to proper hygiene, the CDC has recommended that vaccination is the strongest protection against the H1N1 flu.