School closing for flu outbreak???

[DisneyPhD]

So I get a call from the Elementry school near me that the school is closing and can you please come get my neighboors son because I am on his emgergncy list? Ok???????? She said it was an medical emergnacy and he was the last kid in this class. He is in all day kingergarden (with lacth key) and this is at 2:30 pm.

Um........ ok fine yes of course I will get them. Then I realize that the baby is sleeping (with an ear infection) and I don't want to drag her out of bed. I find my neighboor (a different one) coming come and ask her to stay at my house for a few min. She does. I get to the school and they say it is closing due to the flu. What the? Then as I am getting him a ladys says another neighbor and friend called about picking him up. I can't find his mom's work number at home so they give it to me.

I get home and call her, leave a message I have the kid.

10 min later she shows up at my door and says she went to the school and they said I picked him up. She said she told him she was coming. She also says no one even called her to pick him up. (I know they had her work number, they gave it to me.) She called the school and ask if they if the school was closing (a friend had called her.) and they said yes. It was so nuts.

I picked him up at 2:30. There were still people picking up kids at that time. The normal close time is 3:00. Why not just wait until then and close lacth key? (after school care?)


What in the world? Why would a school close mid day due to the flu? It isn't open tmw. Fine I understand that. But really everyone who was healthy who was there was alreayd exposed. Send the sick kids home and keep it closed for tmw.


What concnerns me is this is the school my DD should be going to next year.

Has anyone else ever heard of this? I thought it was really strange. I know it will be on the local news. It scared the pants of me. I thought some real bad thing had happened (outbreak of meningitis or something like that.)

The funny thing is I ask my friends son how he is feeling and if he is sick. He says "I am fine. If I was sick I wouldn't be at school." Dugh! Out of the mouths of babes. If more people thought that way these things wouldn't happen.

 

[luvmydogs]

Several years ago when there was a huge flu outbreak here, many of the local schools closed for a four-day weekend to give things a chance to die down a bit, and to have the schools disinfected by staff--but we were all given a few days notice that it was coming. Now, I've never heard of an *immediate* closing because of an outbreak--that's a new one to me!

 

[luvwinnie]

Wow. How many kids are sick?

 

[DisneyPhD]

Wow. How many kids are sick?

Not sure, I didn't ask questions, I wanted to get out of there.

Turning on the news now to see what they say about it. (They jump all over stuff like this normally.)

 

[golfgal]

We have had schools close because of the flu but I don't remember them closing like that. Maybe they had some teachers get sick and couldn't find subs to come in. I know most of the school closings are because the staff is sick and they can't find subs because they are sick too. I think the general rule of thumb in our district is 25% of the students are out sick and 10% of the staff if subs can't be found.

 

[mom2boys]

Is this a public school?

 

[DisneyPhD]

Is this a public school?

Yes in a suburban area (Metro Detroit) There are around 6 elementry schools total (they keep closing them, but I think that is right.)

Really with all the working parents this just seems nuts.

 

[golfgal]

Yes in a suburban area (Metro Detroit) There are around 6 elementry schools total (they keep closing them, but I think that is right.)

Really with all the working parents this just seems nuts.

Again, you have to remember that it might be the teachers that are sick and no one to watch the classes. If you have ever had the real influenza there is no way you could stay in school and watch 25 kids until the end of the day.

 

[bcvprincesses]

I saw on the news that the school would be closed but I never heard the reason. That is just nuts to close the school early. Even if most of the teachers were sick they could have just put the kids together in the gym and watch them for that small amount of time. I would have been really mad if that happened here.

 

[laurie31]

It is odd that they didn't try to call the mom before moving on to the emergency contact.

I'll be interested to hear how many are sick, and if it was teachers as some have guessed. The teachers being sick is the only thing I can think of that would prompt the "emergency closing" for flu. I wonder if someone jumped the gun a bit? Sending the sick kids home is a given, but the healthy ones have been exposed, so going home 30 mins early isn't going to change that.

If it were my child I would want to know if she had been exposed, btw!

Laurie

 

[DisOrBust]

What I fimd funny is CNN had the flu map on that showed no activity in Michigan???

 

[DisneyPhD]

It is odd that they didn't try to call the mom before moving on to the emergency contact.

I'll be interested to hear how many are sick, and if it was teachers as some have guessed. The teachers being sick is the only thing I can think of that would prompt the "emergency closing" for flu. I wonder if someone jumped the gun a bit? Sending the sick kids home is a given, but the healthy ones have been exposed, so going home 30 mins early isn't going to change that.

If it were my child I would want to know if she had been exposed, btw!

Laurie

I agree. That is what I was thinking. I am not too worried about my own DD who sat with my friends son for 10 min on the couch and wached T.V. (My DD had her flu shot) and the baby was upstairs sleeping the whole time. Heck my own kids are currenlty on antibiotics for ear infections.

That is too funny abou the flu chart, but I am happy MI wasn't on it!

Nothing on the news. I guess I am going to have to wait and get the scoop from my friend an other neighborhood moms.

Still the whole thing was very strange.

 

[Christine]

I don't know why but I'm seriously doubting some flu outbreak. Certainly we are in the beginning of flu season but I don't think the big "outbreaks" get going until around Christmas season. Certainly not enough to shut down a school, although I'm sure anything is possible.

I wondering if they are having more of a gastrointestinal outbreak (something like Noravirus) caused by foodborne contact. That will whip through a school very fast and a shut-down will totally be in order. And a lot of people call that "the flu."

 

[laurie31]

This is exactly what I was thinking. A GI bug is highly contagious and can make you sick as a dog! Lots of people call that "stomach flu" so maybe that's what it was. If there were lots of people throwing up and having other um...GI distress, getting everyone out fast would be the best thing to do. Still, I don't think 30 minutes would matter...

Laurie

 

[golfgal]

The CDC map (the official influenza outbreak map) shows flu activity in the UP of Michigan but the map is also from Nov 19th, they only update it on their website once a week on Friday and then the info is a week old, too. The map means nothing for anything happening today.

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/usmap.htm

 

[soccerchick]

Several years ago when there was a huge flu outbreak here, many of the local schools closed for a four-day weekend to give things a chance to die down a bit, and to have the schools disinfected by staff--but we were all given a few days notice that it was coming. Now, I've never heard of an *immediate* closing because of an outbreak--that's a new one to me!

I remember that. They didn't actually close any schools around here, but DD's preschool had posted letters from the Health dept. and they had to wipre everything down w/ some specific solution.

 

[ilovedale3]

I remember that they closed my elementary school once because of the flu. The parents were told that when a certain percentage of students and teachers are out, then the school system closes.

The administration sent letters home with each student at the end of the day and the school was closed (beginning the following day) for the rest if the week.

This was about 20 years ago.

Oh crap... I take that back. That was almost 25 years ago.

The schools in the district I live in now have never closed for illness as far as I know.

 

[DisneyPhD]

Again, you have to remember that it might be the teachers that are sick and no one to watch the classes. If you have ever had the real influenza there is no way you could stay in school and watch 25 kids until the end of the day.

I used to work at a preschool and that is what we would do. The thing was the place was crawling with PTA mothers and other volunteers. That would have been enough to wacth the kids for a few hours. It was just so disorganised and crazy. I really am wondering if I should send her there next year.

Yes, sometimes people call somache bugs the flu (someache flu) so I guess that could of been it.

 

[golfgal]

I used to work at a preschool and that is what we would do. The thing was the place was crawling with PTA mothers and other volunteers. That would have been enough to wacth the kids for a few hours. It was just so disorganised and crazy. I really am wondering if I should send her there next year.

Yes, sometimes people call somache bugs the flu (someache flu) so I guess that could of been it.

Preschools have different rules. I know in our town it would have to be a certified teacher to "watch" the class, in other words sub. Also, they would have to have had a background check done, etc. You have to remember that there are pretty specific rules at the public schools. I wouldn't jump to conclusions until you know exactly why the school was closed. If this was a one time incident then there is no reason not to send your child. I also have to say that chances are they called the mom and she didn't answer the phone, maybe she was on another call. They then moved to the next number on the list. Short notice cancellations like these are CRAZY for the school personnel too. They have to contact the parents for EVERY student in the school, quickly, so they are going to just call someone on the list until they get an answer.

 

[DisneyPhD]

Preschools have different rules. I know in our town it would have to be a certified teacher to "watch" the class, in other words sub. Also, they would have to have had a background check done, etc. You have to remember that there are pretty specific rules at the public schools. I wouldn't jump to conclusions until you know exactly why the school was closed. If this was a one time incident then there is no reason not to send your child. I also have to say that chances are they called the mom and she didn't answer the phone, maybe she was on another call. They then moved to the next number on the list. Short notice cancellations like these are CRAZY for the school personnel too. They have to contact the parents for EVERY student in the school, quickly, so they are going to just call someone on the list until they get an answer.

True preschools have differnt rules, but then again the school does have lacth key and non degreed people can wacth the kids there. This child was a lacth key child.

Also while it is possible they couldn't get a hold of the mother is very unlikely. Her phone number is a direct number, if the line is busy or she doesn't answer it, it goes to voice mail. You think they would at least leave a message, to let her know they were contacting her emergancy contacts. I mean I felt really stange having her child and her not even knowing about it. Also in addtion there is an option to contact her assistant if it was an emergancy.

Still seems strange. I won't not send my kid there just based on that. However until I get more info I don't feel good about the situation. It all seems very strange and disorgized to me.