




The most common sense thing to do when dealing with a flu outbreak is to keep sick people away from healthy people...as much as possible. Therefore, it is very important that sick people stay home until they are well.
While the H1N1 virus is running rampant throughout the country please continue to practice these three procedures each day with your self and with your students:
1. Wash hands with soap and hot water often
2. If you or your child has a fever.....keep/take them home. The school will call you and request you take your child home when this occurs.
3. If your child has sore throat, cough, runny nose, body aches, voiting, or diarrhea...depending on the severity...keep them home. These are called flu-like symptoms and you should report to the school if your child has any of these symptoms...and a fever.
If your child does have flu-like symptoms keep them home for 24 hours after the fever is gone. Tylenol and Ibuprofen are still considered the best medications for lowering a fever.
There is no need to panic if your child is sick and the state is recommending that you call the doctor only when you would usually see a health care professional. There are other flu types floating around and at this point H1N1 is being treated just like all the others.
There does seem to be more of an issue to young children and those with asthma when warding off the effects of H1N1 so parents of those children should be more aware of their child's symptoms and seek professional assistance early.
All in all, the H1N1 virus seems to be yet another virus that our bodies normally fight off. Keeping our hands clean and keeping sick people away from healthy ones....common sense ideas...are the best defenses against getting the flu this year.


I just watched the live broadcast from my office here at school and it seemed to me that the speech was a pretty generic contribution to how we as parents and educators want our kids to be. He said all the right things. I decided to write my favorites here because these are quotes that I have found myself saying to students in my office ... over and over again ...
"Find something you are good at. It is your responsibility to find out what that is."
"There is no excuse for not trying." --- (this is my favorite)
""You write your own destiny."
"Take responsiblity for your goals -- set them, and then go out and get them."
"Being successful is hard."
"Some of the most successful people in the world have the most failures."
"Let your failures teach you ... not define you."
"Asking for help isn't a sign of weakness ... its a sign of strength."
If anyone is interested in watching the speech I'm sure it will be on youtube.com or here are a couple of links listed from the original government email I received on Thursday:
Downloadable video of the speech will be made available on the White House Web site as well as on http://www.ed.gov/ / www.whitehouse.gov/mediaresources/

