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Flu scare affects teachers

Officials restrict three Northridge MS teachers from school; one is ill, other two are pregnant.

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By Emanuel Cavallaro, Staff Writer Updated 9:03 AM Friday, May 29, 2009

SPRINGFIELD — Amid the recent spate of confirmed and suspected cases of swine-flu at Northridge Middle School, three Northridge teachers have been restricted from teaching on the recommendation of the health department.

One of those teachers has been diagnosed with Influenza A, and is suspected to have the H1N1 virus commonly known as swine flu. The other two are pregnant and have been restricted from teaching because the CDC has warned that pregnant women are at a higher risk for complications from the illness.

At the Northeastern Local School District School Board meeting on Thursday, May 28, board members voted to continue paying the teachers during their leave of absence, and granted Superintendent Rick Broderick the authority to do the same for any other staff member that may face similar circumstances in the future.

The meeting also offered another opportunity for concerned parents to discuss the issue with school officials. More than 235 Northridge students stayed home from school Tuesday, May 26, after the first case was confirmed, and about 200 parents turned out that night for a public discussion on the matter.

But the attendance at Thursday’s meeting was modest, about 25, not including the board members. Clark County Combined Health District Commissioner Charles Patterson was on hand to answer questions, but there weren’t any. Patterson took it as a sign that despite the rising number of cases, the community is more confident that officials have a handle on the situation, and that the threat posed by flu is not as grave as first supposed.

“There hasn’t been any recent transmission in the school that we can find. Maybe what we’ve done is working,” Patterson said. “Just let the sick kids stay home and the healthy kids go to school.”

Staci Maine was one of the few parents at the meeting. She was there with her 8-year-old daughter, Kylie, a student at Northridge Elementary, which is in the same building as Northridge Middle School.

“It’s a flu,” Maine said. “What can you do? If the health department felt the school needed to be closed, then obviously they would have closed it.”

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