MUSKEGON ? Moon Elementary school teacher death, student illness not caused by swine flu

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Moon Elementary school teacher death, student illness not caused by swine flu

By Lynn Moore | The Muskegon Chronicle

November 06, 2009, 9:23PM

MUSKEGON ? Neither a Moon Elementary School kindergarten teacher who died recently nor a critically ill student in her classroom had H1N1 ?swine flu,? according to local health officials.

Nevertheless, the school will receive a thorough cleaning this weekend in an attempt to ease concerns of parents.

Parents have been keeping their children home from Moon Elementary since speculation started that the death of kindergarten teacher Margaret Johnson McCrary Oct. 30 was related to the illness of the child, said Muskegon Public Schools Superintendent Colin Armstrong. Several have told him and the school?s principal they were keeping their children away out of fear of some sort of contagious illness, Armstrong said.

?We noticed a spike in the absences at Moon today,? Armstrong said Friday. ?There are 20 to 30 kids not at school because of the building. We need to calm the parents down.?

So the district will send a special cleaning crew into Moon Elementary over the weekend to ?sterilize? the building, Armstrong said. He said the cleaning is being done strictly to ease the minds of parents, and not because there is a trouble with rampant illness in the building.

Last week, there were 10 reported illnesses due to the flu among 401 students at the school. That?s a far lower percentage ? 2.5 percent ? than many other schools reported, including Reeths-Puffer?s Central Elementary with 36 percent and Mona Shores? Lincoln Park Elementary, Orchard View Elementary and Muskegon Heights? Roosevelt Elementary reporting 25 percent, according to Public Health-Muskegon County.

McCrary, 56, left school Oct. 27 feeling ill and died three days later in Grand Rapids. An autopsy was not performed by the Kent County Medical Examiner, according to a spokeswoman for that office. School officials have said McCrary had suffered from a chronic illness.

McCrary was tested for H1N1 flu and was negative, said Jill Montgomery-Keast, a spokeswoman for the Muskegon County health department.

The kindergarten student was listed in critical condition Friday at C.S. Mott Children?s Hospital in Ann Arbor. The student also had a negative test for H1N1, Montgomery-Keast said.

http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2009/11/moon_elementary_school_teacher.html

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Re: MUSKEGON ? Moon Elementary school teacher death, student illness not caused by swine flu

No link found between Moon Elementary teacher's death, student's illness

By Lynn Moore | The Muskegon Chronicle

November 06, 2009, 9:33AM

MUSKEGON ? A teacher is dead and one of her students is seriously ill, but Muskegon Public Schools officials say they have no reason to believe the two tragedies are connected.

Margaret Johnson McCrary, a kindergarten teacher at Moon Elementary School who had suffered from a serious chronic illness, left school after falling ill Oct. 27 and never returned, according to Muskegon Public Schools Superintendent Colin Armstrong.

McCrary, 56, of Muskegon Heights died at Spectrum Health Butterworth three days later, according to her obituary.

Around the time of her death, parents of one of McCrary?s 6-year-old kindergarten students began seeking hospital treatment for their child, Armstrong said. The child now is very ill and receiving treatment in an Ann Arbor hospital, he said.

And while the child?s family has questioned whether the two incidents are related, Armstrong said he has no such information from health officials. The Muskegon County Health Department even contacted Armstrong to see what he knows of the situation, he said.

He has no information about the cause of the child?s illness nor of McCrary?s death, though he assumes it stems from her chronic condition, Armstrong said.

The family?s search for answers is understandable, while the entire community is on alert because of H1N1 flu concerns, he said.

?We have two tragic incidents,? Armstrong said. ?They?re parallel at this time. Nobody at this point has said there is a connection.?

There even was a rumor that the substitute teacher that filled in for McCrary also died, which is not true, Armstrong said, adding that she did subsequently suffer a brief illness.

Armstrong said that to address ?all these rumors and concerns in the community,? a letter was sent home to Moon parents Thursday. In the letter, Principal Kristina Martinez-Precious writes that ?no medical practitioner has determined the events to be linked,? and promised to keep parents informed of ?relevant information.?

http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2009/11/no_link_found_between_teachers.html