School is already in session for most Connecticut children. The remainder will start soon. In an effort to keep kids healthy this school year the State Department of Education is teaming up with the State Health Department to get public schools ready for the Swine Flu.
But Tom Murphy of the DOE says they can't do it without help. "Parents will play an incredibly important role in reducing the risk of contracting this virus this year.”
The new school year is upon us. That means the threat of the swine flu could be back.
In fact, Murphy says some schools have already been hit. "We’ve noted the presence of it in our college campuses of it in our state.”
Wednesday, however, the focus at a meeting was public elementary and high schools and what needs to be done to keep students healthy and schools open even if the swine flu shows up.
Officials say the first line of defense is at home. Parents are being asked to keep their children at home if they’re sick.
But not everyone is on-board with the message. West Haven mom Regina Torres thinks that may be going overboard. "What if the kid doesn’t even really have the swine flu and its nothing to worry about and now he's missing school," she asks.
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Regina isn’t the only one worried about kids missing school. Because there is a threat of massive student and teacher absences due to the flu, the DOE is asking schools to maintain a stock of learning materials at all times in case they have to close down.
This year, the goal is to keep schools open at all cost. Therefore Murphy says school administrators are being told to be on the look out: "If a student were to exhibit flu like symptoms in the classrooms in the school nurse would remove the student from the school setting.”
The DOE says once the swine flu vaccine becomes available later this year, they're hoping to provide the shots at public schools.
