Rest assured, our district has been in regular contact with representatives of Dakota County Public Health and the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) throughout the summer, discussing plans for helping prevent the spread of sickness and how we will handle cases where students and staff have symptoms of influenza-like illness. We will continue to follow the recommendations of public health officials and will cooperate with them fully in dealing with this public health matter. Sometime this fall, we believe Dakota County Public Health will ask schools to host clinics where children will be able to receive the H1N1 vaccine with parental consent, but do not know any details at this time. MDH recommends also receiving the seasonal flu vaccine which is available now; call your healthcare provider for details.

We ask parents to remain calm, stay informed and, most importantly, keep children home from school when they are sick. As a district, we are taking the recommended steps to help prevent the spread of influenza-like illness in our schools, but the most important factor in our success will be the willingness of parents to keep their children home from school when they are sick.

Symptoms of influenza include a fever of 100-degrees or higher and a cough or sore throat.

According to the current MDH recommendations, students and staff who have experienced symptoms of influenza-like illness must remain out of school until they have been fever free for 24 hours without the use of fever-reducing medications, which is typically 5 to 7 days. Before such time they can spread the illness and should not be in school.

At MDH's request, our schools will continue to identify and report cases of influenza-like illness. When parents call the school attendance line to report that their child is sick, they will be asked if the child has symptoms of influenza-like illness. If these symptoms develop during the school day, parents will be contacted to pick up their child from school. Each of our schools has been asked to identify a location in or near the office where children with influenza-like symptoms can wait until they are picked up.

School staff will be talking with students about these simple but effective steps to helping prevent the spread of illness:

1. wash hands frequently and thoroughly with soap and water or hand sanitizer;

2. cover coughs and sneezes with a sleeve or tissue and try to avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth, and

3. stay home from school and/or work when sick.

We ask that parents reinforce these healthy habits with their children at home. Hand sanitizer stations are being ordered and will be available for students in all school cafeterias, which is new this year. Parents may also provide their child with hand sanitizer for their personal use at other times during the day. Normal cleaning schedules will be maintained at all of our schools.

Note that we refer to "influenza-like illness" and not H1N1 because we will rarely if ever know what strain of flu someone actually has. Pregnant women and people who are medically fragile (including those with asthma) are most vulnerable if they contract H1N1 and should seek treatment early if they develop symptoms of influenza-like illness. In many cases, people may end up contracting H1N1 influenza, get better and never know if it was H1N1 or the seasonal flu.

We will continue to communicate with you about influenza-like illness when additional information is available or if MDH recommendations change at any point during the school year. Please keep children home from school when they are sick and have a plan in place for child care (for younger children) if that happens. Thank you for your understanding and best wishes for a great start to the new school year.

Sincerely,

Jane K. Berenz Superintendent