Child Too Sick For School? How Forsyth Schools Are Battling Flu

FORSYTH COUNTY, GA — Forsyth County schools have put out several messages recently to educate parents and students about stopping the spread of illnesses, as well as some facts about the school system's battle with the flu.

The school system said on their website that they want to clarify a recent news report that on Thursday, Jan. 31, Forsyth County had 50 bus monitors and drivers out sick, out of a staff of 419.

"This was a one-time occurrence and we do not know how many were physician confirmed cases of the flu," reads the school system website. "Since that time, our number of bus drivers and monitors out sick has decreased to 14 on Tuesday, Feb. 6. When drivers are out sick, we have trained transportation staff covering their routes, not school staff."

"Our students' heath is very important to us," Jennifer Caracciolo, director of communications, told Patch via email. "Daily, our staff remind students of cleanliness practices and work hard to keep learning environments as clean as possible. We have also been reminding parents to keep sick children home from school.

"We do have small pockets across the county of sickness due to a variety of illnesses, but the percentages and list of schools changes daily," she said. "We are doing our best to provide safe school environments and the number of student absences are being monitored closely."

"When 10% of a school population is out sick, our county nurse notifies the health department and district officials. Currently, a small number of schools in Forsyth County are at 10%; it is important to note that the entirety of the 10% are not for physician confirmed cases of the flu. We are also seeing students with stomach viruses and strep throat."

Thursday Caracciolo said the school system is at 95.95 percent in attendance district-wide. Schools with less than 90 percent are:

Coal Mountain ES – 88.74
North Forsyth MS – 89.12
Sawnee ES – 88.61

The school system points out that their facilities department is taking proactive measures for cleaning and the superintendent has authorized overtime for custodians if needed to ensure a clean learning environment.

On the school website there is another resource for parents, titled You Can Help Stop the Spread of Illnesses.

"We are aware of the increase in illnesses in our county," reads the website. "School nurses document physician confirmed cases of the flu, which are communicated to and monitored by our county nurse. FCS is home to close to 48,000 students; on Monday, January 29, we had 38 physician confirmed cases of the flu, which was the highest for the week. While this number is not large in relation to our overall student population, we understand parent concerns. Please view The Flu: A Guide for Parents, created by the CDC, for information.

"Most importantly, we are asking parents to please not send their children to school when they are ill, even if there is no fever present, and to continue the practice of washing hands frequently," reads the website. "When in doubt, please follow this chart to assist you when or when not to send your child to school."

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