Manassas schools: Sick kids should stay home

The biggest problem facing Manassas City schools in regard to the H1N1 flu is sick children going to school.

In a recent letter to the Manassas City Council, Gail E. Pope, superintendent of Manassas City Public Schools, said that 30 to 40 students per day are coming to school with fevers.

When students show up with fevers, they are isolated until their parents can pick them up.

Tonight, the school system will send an AlertNow message to every family they can contact via e-mail and telephone, urging parents to keep their children home "if they even think" their child has a fever, the letter stated.

School officials are urging parents to keep their children home until they are free of fever for 24 hours, the letter stated.

H1N1 vaccinations have been completed at Baldwin and Round elementary schools.

The other elementary schools will hold the clinic this week, while Mayfield Intermediate School, Metz Middle School and Osbourn High School will hold clinics next week, Pope's letter stated.

About 60 to 75 percent of the students are receiving the vaccine.

This week has shown the highest absentee rate so far this year with 15 percent of the students out at the elementary schools and 10 percent absent at the secondary schools.

The absentee rate for employees has not increased, the letter stated.

Custodians are following cleaning guidelines issued by the Centers for Disease Control and rooms with high numbers of absent students are receiving additional attention, the letter stated.

If the vaccine works as predicted, illness at the schools should decrease in two to three weeks, the letter stated.

Prince William County Schools officials are closely monitoring the student population for flu-like symptoms, stated a Prince William County Public Schools press release.

Though absences are trending upward, the school system can't positively attribute all of the absences to H1N1 flu.

Some of the county's schools have shown a 15 percent absentee rate, but rates are near 10 percent on average compared to the normal 3- to 5-percent rate, the release stated.

Staff absences on a given day this year are at 3 to 5 percent compared to the normal rate of less than 1 percent.

Officials at the county school system are also urging parents to keep their children home if they are experiencing symptoms of influenza, which include cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue, and occasional vomiting and diarrhea.

Manassas Bureau Chief Keith Walker can be reached at 703-369-6751.