Information current as of January 11, 2010
Thank you for visiting the Blue Valley School District's Web page about the flu, including H1N1.
The district thanks and appreciates the cooperation of parents and guardians by keeping children who are sick home for at least 24 hours after they no longer have fever or signs of fever, without using fever-reducing drugs.
Your cooperation and support has been very helpful in keeping our absentee rate down. We currently are experience an absentee rate due to flu-like symptoms that is near normal for this time of year. Principals will continue to inform parents should the student absence rate in a particular school reach 10 percent.
The health of our students and staff is important to us so we continue to ask for your support by strongly requesting that if your child is sick, please keep him or her home and follow the recommendations listed below.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Johnson County Health Department are recommending the following additional ways you can help:
- Teach your children to wash their hands often with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand rub. 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 tissues. Covering up their coughs or sneezes using the elbow, arm or sleeve instead of the hand when a tissue is unavailable.
- Know the signs and symptoms of the flu. Symptoms of the flu include fever (100 degrees Fahrenheit, 37.8 degrees Celsius 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 drugs (any medicine that contains ibuprofen or acetaminophen). 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. Note: To minimize the spread of germs, students who become sick at school will be taken to a separate room and provided a surgical mask to wear, if they are comfortable with it.
