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Florence School District 3 prepares in case of flu outbreak
By Bradrick McClam
Lake City News & Post Reporter
Published: August 28, 2009
LAKE CITY ? Florence School District 3 officials gathered recently to revise the district?s flu pandemic plan and become fully prepared in case of an outbreak.
According to the plan, the district needs to establish a team to head the emergency preparedness. The team consists of Superintendent Beth M. Wright, Senior Director of Curriculum and Instruction Barbara Woodbury, Health Services Coordinator Pam Coker, Director of Facilities and Operations Jay Alexander and Communications Coordinator Brian Huckabee.
During the meeting held Thursday, Wright gave guidelines as to what school secretaries, principals and members of her senior staff would do in response to an outbreak.
Wright said principals have been instructed to establish a homebound academy at their schools when students return after being sick. She said the homebound academies will give students the opportunity to catch up on assignments they miss.
She said mental health workers, guidance counselors and school psychologists are based at the schools to help students who will have emotional problems because of a crisis.
Wright said principals are updating their schools? crisis plans and will provide those plans to Alexander in the coming week.
She also said when a student becomes sick, principals need to designate an area where those students can remain until parents are able to pick the students up from school.
Wright said children who are sick will not be able to ride school buses because of the risk of spreading to other students. Students also won?t be allowed to participate in extracurricular activities until they are well, she said.
The district won?t close schools except as a last resort in case of a major outbreak, Wright said.
Teachers in the district have Web pages that will allow students to keep up with assignments if they are out sick, Wright said.
Alexander said he and custodians in the district will review cleaning procedures and will hold training for custodians.
Wright said she is talking with other district superintendents to find out what their plans are.
Wright said plans will be shared with the mayors of Lake City, Coward, Scranton and Olanta because they are a part of the district?s communication system.
The district?s emergency preparedness team also will conduct a ?table-talk? exercise among themselves and with school level administrators to review each person?s role in case of an outbreak.
At the end of Thursday?s meeting, Wright assigned individual duties to the team members, who will present their results when they meet again Friday in the district office.
She also asked them to review several documents regarding steps to take in case of a flu pandemic in schools and to provide feedback at the next meeting.
Earlier this month, Williamsburg County School District confirmed a positive case of H1N1 flu at Kingstree Elementary School earlier this month. According to DHEC reports, it was the first H1N1 case reported in Williamsburg County this year.
A student at Easterling Primary School in Marion was back in class Thursday after being diagnosed earlier with the Marion School District 1?s first case of H1N1.
Since novel H1N1 flu first appeared in South Carolina, DHEC published a weekly map showing reported cases on a county-by-county basis. But over time, DHEC officials said they?ve come to believe that the county-by-county map of individual cases no longer offers an accurate picture of how flu is affecting the state.
Instead of focusing on individual cases, DHEC is now focusing its staff and resources to monitor local outbreaks or clusters of novel H1N1 flu, hospitalizations due to novel H1N1 flu, and changes in the virus? severity.
?We will continue to update our influenza surveillance information regularly through our flu surveillance system, which also tracks seasonal flu,? DHEC said on its site, http://www.scdhec.gov/flu/swine-flu.htm.
The approach, according to DHEC?s Web site, follows guidance issued by both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization on how public health authorities should continue to monitor and track the progress of novel H1N1 flu in a way that uses resources most appropriately to protect public health.
The CDC recommends that the primary means to reduce the spread of influenza, in schools, should focus on early identification of ill students and staff; staying home when ill; and good cough and hand hygiene etiquette.
? Media General Carolina staff members contributed to this report.
http://www2.scnow.com/scp/news/local/article/florence_school_district_3_prepares_in_case_of_flu_outbreak/72365/
By Bradrick McClam
Lake City News & Post Reporter
Published: August 28, 2009
LAKE CITY ? Florence School District 3 officials gathered recently to revise the district?s flu pandemic plan and become fully prepared in case of an outbreak.
According to the plan, the district needs to establish a team to head the emergency preparedness. The team consists of Superintendent Beth M. Wright, Senior Director of Curriculum and Instruction Barbara Woodbury, Health Services Coordinator Pam Coker, Director of Facilities and Operations Jay Alexander and Communications Coordinator Brian Huckabee.
During the meeting held Thursday, Wright gave guidelines as to what school secretaries, principals and members of her senior staff would do in response to an outbreak.
Wright said principals have been instructed to establish a homebound academy at their schools when students return after being sick. She said the homebound academies will give students the opportunity to catch up on assignments they miss.
She said mental health workers, guidance counselors and school psychologists are based at the schools to help students who will have emotional problems because of a crisis.
Wright said principals are updating their schools? crisis plans and will provide those plans to Alexander in the coming week.
She also said when a student becomes sick, principals need to designate an area where those students can remain until parents are able to pick the students up from school.
Wright said children who are sick will not be able to ride school buses because of the risk of spreading to other students. Students also won?t be allowed to participate in extracurricular activities until they are well, she said.
The district won?t close schools except as a last resort in case of a major outbreak, Wright said.
Teachers in the district have Web pages that will allow students to keep up with assignments if they are out sick, Wright said.
Alexander said he and custodians in the district will review cleaning procedures and will hold training for custodians.
Wright said she is talking with other district superintendents to find out what their plans are.
Wright said plans will be shared with the mayors of Lake City, Coward, Scranton and Olanta because they are a part of the district?s communication system.
The district?s emergency preparedness team also will conduct a ?table-talk? exercise among themselves and with school level administrators to review each person?s role in case of an outbreak.
At the end of Thursday?s meeting, Wright assigned individual duties to the team members, who will present their results when they meet again Friday in the district office.
She also asked them to review several documents regarding steps to take in case of a flu pandemic in schools and to provide feedback at the next meeting.
Earlier this month, Williamsburg County School District confirmed a positive case of H1N1 flu at Kingstree Elementary School earlier this month. According to DHEC reports, it was the first H1N1 case reported in Williamsburg County this year.
A student at Easterling Primary School in Marion was back in class Thursday after being diagnosed earlier with the Marion School District 1?s first case of H1N1.
Since novel H1N1 flu first appeared in South Carolina, DHEC published a weekly map showing reported cases on a county-by-county basis. But over time, DHEC officials said they?ve come to believe that the county-by-county map of individual cases no longer offers an accurate picture of how flu is affecting the state.
Instead of focusing on individual cases, DHEC is now focusing its staff and resources to monitor local outbreaks or clusters of novel H1N1 flu, hospitalizations due to novel H1N1 flu, and changes in the virus? severity.
?We will continue to update our influenza surveillance information regularly through our flu surveillance system, which also tracks seasonal flu,? DHEC said on its site, http://www.scdhec.gov/flu/swine-flu.htm.
The approach, according to DHEC?s Web site, follows guidance issued by both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization on how public health authorities should continue to monitor and track the progress of novel H1N1 flu in a way that uses resources most appropriately to protect public health.
The CDC recommends that the primary means to reduce the spread of influenza, in schools, should focus on early identification of ill students and staff; staying home when ill; and good cough and hand hygiene etiquette.
? Media General Carolina staff members contributed to this report.
http://www2.scnow.com/scp/news/local/article/florence_school_district_3_prepares_in_case_of_flu_outbreak/72365/