October 5, 2009
Dear Parents or
Guardians,
As we continue to hear in the local, state
and national media, the H1N1 virus is expected to affect people in
our area of the country within the next few weeks or months
depending on the source of the information. In response to the
anticipated impact on both student and staff attendance, we have
engaged the use of specific steps to not only reduce the spread of
flu in the Regional School District 17 schools, but also to maintain
a system whereby absent students may continue to obtain information
about material being covered in the classes in which they are
enrolled on days they are absent from school.
As
reported previously, we continue to work closely with the State
Board of Educationand the Connecticut River Area Health District
(Killingworth) and the Chatham Health District (Haddam) to monitor
flu conditions and make decisions about the best steps to take
concerning our schools. We will keep you updated with new
information as it becomes available. The Department of Public
Health has initiated a swine flu hotline, should you have specific
questions, the number is 1-800-830-9426 and there is someone
available from 7:00 am to 7:00 p.m.
The following list
again highlights important actions that you can take now to help
keep you, your child and family well during the flu season. Here are
a few things you can do to continue to help.
-
Teach your children to wash their hands often with soap and water.
You can set a good example by doing this yourself.
- Teach your children not to share personal items like drinks,
food or unwashed utensils, and to cover their coughs and sneezes
with a tissue, their elbow, arm or sleeve instead of their
hand.
- Know the signs and symptoms of the flu.
Symptoms of the flu include fever (100 degrees Fahrenheit or
greater), cough, sore throat, a runny or stuffy nose, body aches,
headache, and feeling very tired. Some people may also vomit or have
diarrhea.
- Keep sick children at home for at
least 24 hours after they no longer have fever or do not have signs
of fever, without using fever-reducing medicine. Keeping
children with a fever at home will reduce the number of people who
may get infected.
- 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.
- Make arrangements for other trusted
family or friends to care for your child if they are sick and you
can not be home with them. This plan should not involve possible
exposure to other well children.
The schools district's
web site at www.rsd17.org continues to be a primary site where you
may obtain the most current information about the flu.
Additional sites include those listed
below.
http://www.chathamhealth.org/
http://www.crahd.org/
http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/schools/toolkit/
http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/schools/schoolguidance.htm
In
the event your child is absent from school for any reason, he/she
may obtain class work by logging on to their teachers'
websites. Schools have asked staff to ensure that the daily
material being presented in classes is posted so that students
suffering from an illness can access it and complete it as their
health allows. Students are encouraged to complete the
assignments in conjunction with textbooks and other resources as
prescribed by their teachers. In many cases, the district's
decision to purchase only textbooks that have an accessible, online
component will be of greater value during this time. While this
method clearly will not replace in-class instruction, it will allow
students to remain current and up to date on course material if and
when they are absent.
On those occasions when teachers
are out ill, each school will continue to provide a substitute
teacher who will implement "substitute plans" as prepared by the
regular classroom teacher. Given that we anticipate that the
flu will most likely also impact our pool of substitute teachers, I
have asked school principals to design contingency plans to combine
classes where appropriate and to develop plans to utilize all
personnel in their respective schools to maintain a credible
instructional program during periods of increased absence of
teaching staff. The specifics of each school's plan can be
accessed by contacting the Principal of each school
directly.
Our goal is to keep schools functioning in a
normal manner during this flu season and open to all students and
staff.
Our hope is that working together we can
minimize the disruption caused during this flu season.
Very truly yours,
Gary
Linda
Gary S.
Mala
Linda Kauffman
Superintendent of
Schools
Nursing Supervisor
Regional School District
17
Regional School District 17
The Project Graduation Fundraising Committee will
continue with the recycling fundraiser so please look for the green
bins in all of RSD 17 schools and consider donating used cell
phones, ink jet cartridges, digital cameras, etc. Any
questions, feel free to contact Kathy Strom, 345-3398 or
KSSTROM@aol.com. Updates will be added to the Project
Graduation link on the district website. Thank You.
Please visit the District Calendar located on the
district's homepage (www.rsd17.org) to see when the various
activities and meetings are scheduled.
Thank
you for your continued patience as we implemented additional
adjustments to the transportation routes for this school
year.
A reminder that the district utilizes
the Honeywell Instant Alert system to communicate with
parents during times of emergency or to deliver messages of high
importance. Please be sure that you are registered with
Honeywell (link available at www.rsd17.org) and have indicated how
you wish to have messages received. If you have questions
regarding this, please do not hesitate to contact the Principal of
any one of our schools for
assistance.
If you wish to have
an announcement included in any Weekly Message, please forward the
text to Pamela Hensel, Administrative Assistant to the
Superintendent of Schools at
henselp44@rsd17.org.
If you have any
suggestions regarding the Weekly Message, please contact Gary S.
Mala, Superintendent of Schools at
gmala@rsd17.org.
Enjoy your week and thank
you for your continued support.
Gary
Gary
S. Mala
Superintendent of Schools
Regional School District
17
(860) 345-4534
http://www.rsd17.org
"Believing is
Achieving"
