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Editor, Senior Moderator
Staff illnesses cause private school to close
Tuesday, September 29, 2009 5:05 AM
By Jennifer Smith Richards
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Widespread staff illness forced the closing of a small private school on the Northwest Side yesterday.
About half of the employees at Ecole Francaise, an elementary school with about 100 students, are ill, Principal Holly J. Martineau said - including her. Ohio Department of Education records list nine teachers at the school, which has been operating since 1982 and teaches French in addition to other core subjects.
"It doesn't look like all swine flu. There's bronchitis, earaches, fever - all kinds of things. And that's all," Martineau said.
Martineau would not answer additional questions, including when the school planned to reopen or whether students also are ill.
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Closing a school because of illness is rare. No schools closed because of staff illness last school year, said Scott Blake, state Education Department spokesman.
That's especially true in large public-school districts, which maintain an ample pool of substitute teachers to fill in for staff members when they're out sick.
Last school year, some schools closed because of cases of H1N1, or swine flu. But federal and state health officials aren't recommending that schools be closed because of the flu anymore.
Widespread illness among students does sometimes prompt school officials to close schools. Education Department records show that, typically, two or three schools close each year because too many students stay home sick.
The state does not dictate when a school must close, but it does require traditional public schools to make up most of the days they miss.
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/09/29/sickclosure.html?sid=101
Tuesday, September 29, 2009 5:05 AM
By Jennifer Smith Richards
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Widespread staff illness forced the closing of a small private school on the Northwest Side yesterday.
About half of the employees at Ecole Francaise, an elementary school with about 100 students, are ill, Principal Holly J. Martineau said - including her. Ohio Department of Education records list nine teachers at the school, which has been operating since 1982 and teaches French in addition to other core subjects.
"It doesn't look like all swine flu. There's bronchitis, earaches, fever - all kinds of things. And that's all," Martineau said.
Martineau would not answer additional questions, including when the school planned to reopen or whether students also are ill.
Story continues belowAdvertisement
Closing a school because of illness is rare. No schools closed because of staff illness last school year, said Scott Blake, state Education Department spokesman.
That's especially true in large public-school districts, which maintain an ample pool of substitute teachers to fill in for staff members when they're out sick.
Last school year, some schools closed because of cases of H1N1, or swine flu. But federal and state health officials aren't recommending that schools be closed because of the flu anymore.
Widespread illness among students does sometimes prompt school officials to close schools. Education Department records show that, typically, two or three schools close each year because too many students stay home sick.
The state does not dictate when a school must close, but it does require traditional public schools to make up most of the days they miss.
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/09/29/sickclosure.html?sid=101