pigfluenza

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Maybe I’m going to get swine flu for saying this, but it doesn’t really scare me.  Everything I heard has seemed to be panic-driven over flu-like symptoms.  Nevertheless, if people care about it, then it will become an issue for schools.  How would I tackle the issue at our school at state-testing time?  I’ll keep this one short and sweet.

Firstly, I would wait and see what happens over the next couple of days.***  Also, if it seems to be an issue (or if another epidemic were impending), then let students wear school-distributed medical masks in school.  Make hand-sanitizer readily available and have teachers use first period to inform students of preventative measures when they distribute masks.  (Obviously the “cool” kids will not wear them, but they deserve to get sick, right?)

If this so-called “pig sickness” becomes that big of a problem, then the state should and would become involved in some manner.  I would only close if they deemed it necessary.  In the cases of students becoming ill and missing tests, I would treat it as if they had the regular Homo sapien flu and make them retest.  If they can’t make it, then they can participate in retests next year or later on in high school.  So it goes.

***EDITOR'S NOTE: A baby died from this swine flu which is very sad.  However, while I risk sounding insensitive, I would like to point out that there are approximately 30,000 deaths per year from the REGULAR FLU.  I'm just saying, let's not panic quite yet. -- 04/30/09 PL