District Administration - September 2009 - (Page 25)

HealthUpdate Cabinet Trio Prepares for Swine Flu in Schools THE SERIOUSNESS WITH WHICH Anne Schuchat of the Centers for Disthe Obama administration is taking ease Control and Prevention for a briefthe possibility of a severe swine ﬂu out- ing before a bipartisan group of House break in schools is evident in the num- and Senate members. ey also appeared at a joint press ber of Cabinet secretaries who publicly conference in August, addressed the issue along with CDC Direcover the summer: 3. tor omas Frieden, to In June, Secretary announce updated guideof Education Arne lines for schools. One Duncan and Secretary signiﬁcant update is the of Health and Human length of time students or Services Kathleen personnel with swine ﬂ u Sebelius issued a joint should stay out of school. letter to schools and Earlier guidelines recomdistricts urging them to mended that they remain take action to prevent home for at least seven the spread of the virus, days and return only and in an address at after being fever-free for the July meeting of the 24 hours. e new guideNational Governors lines scrap the seven-day Association, Secretary recommendation. of Homeland SecuDuncan also urged rity Janet Napolitano Even Janet Napolitano, shown called on governors to here speaking at the National in administrators to read Governors Association meeting work with state and July, is concerned about the spread the CDC’s Preparing for the Flu (Including 2009 local school oﬃcials on of swine ﬂu in schools. H1N1 Flu): A Communischool closure prevention. “ e ideal is to keep schools open cation Toolkit for Schools (Grades K-12). is toolkit, which includes fact sheets, and keep sick students home,” she said. Duncan and Sebelius wrote that Q&A for health and school oﬃcials, and because a vaccine will not be available template letters for schools to send to until well after the school year begins, parents, can be downloaded at www.ﬂu. “it will be critical for schools to begin gov/plan/school/toolkit.html. Although oﬃcials from many fedplanning non-pharmaceutical interventions to prevent disease transmission and eral departments and agencies have been protect students and staﬀ, as well as local working throughout the summer to plan for a resurgence of the H1N1 virus, not communities, from infection.” e three cabinet secretaries appeared even the highest oﬃcials can know what together at a summit held in July at the will happen when schools open in the National Institutes of Health attended fall to millions of children who have not by health and school oﬃcials from across yet been vaccinated. “Inﬂ uenza may be the country, at which President Obama the least predictable of all infectious dishimself spoke by telephone from Italy. eases,” admitted Frieden. “ is is an evolving situation,” added Two weeks later they joined Homeland Security Advisor John Brennan and Napolitano. “Our strength is ﬂexibility.” www.DistrictAdministration.com BRIEFINGS FORT WORTH ISD Fort Worth ISD: All Systems in Place? WHILE DISTRICTS ACROSS THE country have been working during the summer on their disease prevention and emergency preparedness plans, the Fort Worth (Texas) Independent School District’s updated plans are the result of a real-life test. In late April, ofﬁcials decided to close every school in the district for over a week. Not only was each school thoroughly disinfected, but the district’s Curriculum and Instruction Division recruited teachers to teach “Sofa Studies” classes on EdTV, which provides educational programming for the local cable system and on AT&T U-verse. “Soon teachers from all over the district were anxious to take part,” says Superintendent Melody Johnson. Now that this “Sofa Studies” infrastructure is in place, it can be used to reach students who are home sick, whether or not the district is closed. In addition, EdTV can now be streamed live over the Internet. This time around, however, Johnson hopes that prevention techniques will keep the virus from spreading and allow schools to stay open. “We have a robust campaign that highlights handwashing, covering mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing, and staying home when you don’t feel well,” says Johnson. “That advice remains the best that is available.” September 2009 25 http://www.flu.gov/plan/school/toolkit.html http://www.flu.gov/plan/school/toolkit.html http://www.DistrictAdministration.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - September 2009

District Administration - September 2009
Contents
From the Editor
Letters
News Update
Health Update
Curriculum Update
Stimulus Monitor
Conversations
Administrator Profile
District Profile
Administrator Roles Shift with the Times
Turning Around Schools in Need
Global Learning
Managing Generational Diversity
New Products
Professional Opinion
How Well Does This Web Site Work?
New Books
Tech Disruptions
Online Edge

District Administration - September 2009