To District 64 Grade 8 Parents & Staff:
We are writing with an update regarding an increase in the number of grade 8 students reporting influenza-like illnesses and to request your cooperation as we prepare for promotion ceremonies tomorrow.
We realize that the promotion ceremony is an important milestone in your child’s life. However, we must ask you to comply with recommended health guidelines in consideration of your own child’s health as well as the hundreds of other students, family members and District 64 staff who will be present at these events.
This means that students must be fever-free for 24 hours prior to the time of the ceremony to participate. Students who have a fever and other flu symptoms must remain at home. Please consult with your physician if you have any questions about your child’s illness and his/her ability to participate. We also encourage you to review cough/sneeze etiquette with your children and the principles of hand hygiene, as explained in detail on our Web site at this link: http://www.d64.org/page.php?pid=389
As a precaution, District 64 staff will not offer the customary congratulatory handshake or hug to students as they receive their diplomas tomorrow evening while on stage.
For students who are unable to participate due to illness, the Board of Education will officially present their certificates at the Monday, July 13 meeting. Please contact the Superintendent’s office at 847-318-4300 if you would like your child to participate at this alternate event.
Thank you for your cooperation in our efforts to promote the good health of all members of the District 64 community.
Sally Pryor, Superintendent
Margaret Petkofski, RN, Facilitator, School Health Services
Our thanks to a PRU reader for the submission
9 comments:
This is just stupid:
"As a precaution, District 64 staff will not offer the customary congratulatory handshake or hug to students as they receive their diplomas."
Grown ups, get a grip! Shake those eighth graders hands and then go wash your own afterwards if you're so worried about cooties. Sheesh.
ditto!
I think I saw Chicken Little walking around Park Ridge.
I believe the thought is that asymptomatic kid A sneezes into her hand and then shakes D64 staff hand, who shakes kid B, C, D and E’s hands, passing on the virus to each.
What’s the difference between a swine flu sneeze and a hay fever sneeze? I don’t know, so I guess I am stupid for not wanting to find out. While the sky is not falling, there have been reported cases of the flu, so a little common sense may prevent even the remote possibility of spreading the virus.
And yes, everyone should wash their hands more often.
Anon 11:07 - In that case, there should never be handshaking or hugging at graduation. The swine flu has no worse consequences than any other type of flu, that's pretty clear by now. And it's too late to stop the spread of the virus - it will spread just like any other. So why the hysteria? People can get the flu from others at graduation any year.
Perhaps they should have shaken hands and then passed out hand sanitizing wipes to every kid as they left the stage.
The difference between Swine Flu and other strains is that the flu shot you may have received, will not protect you from the Swine Flu. For the elderly, the young and those with compromised immune systems due to diatetes or some other chronic condition, the swine flu is bad.
Why do people see this as a black and white issue? People insist on thinking either the swine flu is terrible or the swine flu is no big deal. The truth, as it often is, is in the middle. It's on the smaller end of a 'big' deal, but not up to the frenzy the media created.
"Eighty percent of all infectious diseases are transmitted by contact both direct and indirect -- direct such as kissing, indirect such as shaking someone's hand," says Philip M. Tierno Jr., PhD, director of clinical microbiology and immunology at New York University Medical Center.
Though the germs don't ooze from our pores, he says, covering your mouth when you cough, wiping your nose with a tissue, even failing to wash your hands after using the bathroom can all leave germs on your skin that can get passed on during a handshake.
"If you eat or drink something without washing your hands, or if you touch your own nose, mouth, or eyes after shaking someone's hand, you can introduce whatever germ was on their hand, and now your hand, into the portals of your body," says Tierno.
Indeed, hand-to-hand contact can be such a potent way of passing germs that the CDC issued a special advisory which reads, in part, "The most important thing that you can do to keep from getting sick is to wash your hands."
Tierno agrees: "Frequent hand washing is the single most important weapon we have against disease."
This is from an article from handshaking during the presidential election - between Bush and Kerry, mind you - long before the current Swine Flu issues arose.
Maybe the Japanese custom of bowing is an option. Respectful. Cultural. Vector-less.
Usually by June (graduation time) the flu is not an issue. But the swine flu is hanging around longer than the run of the mill influenza. Is it a big issue? Probably not, but you never know who may have a compromised immune system.
What's that? Those silly Medical Professionals and University Cry Babies are always whining about something...Sheesh. I get my info from Chicken Know Little, and feel very smug about it too.
The Sky is Falling! The Sky is Falling!
Anon at 9:01, I hadn't hear that, but if it does, it'll solve the Swine Flu pandemic, so let's keep our fingers crossed. I'd rather be crushed quickly than lay in bed for days suffering...
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