Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Regional Meeting, June 9, 2009
Tonight's public meeting consisted entirely of honoring teachers and staff in our district. Specific awards were given to four members of the clerical staff, and teachers/staff who had reached 20, 25, 30, and 35 years of service, as well as those who were retiring, were honored. If you have a chance, watch this on TV/internet because special tributes were read aloud by School Committee members (these were written by peers of the honorees), and they were really descriptive in conveying the contributions of each person to the district. We then entered executive session.
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21 comments:
With only a few days left, why not close the schools and prevent the spread of the swine flu? What with the recent telephone notification we received and the reported case in Hatfield, I think it would be prudent.
Based on our family's personal experience, if a student at ARHS is a confirmed swine flu, it is already too late to stop potential spread. There is such a back-log of testing (or at least there was as of two weeks ago) that by the time you get your test results, you are most likely to have already passed the seven day mark. My husband was diagnosed with Type A influenza around Memorial Day (after waiting a week for those results) and it was sent out to be subtyped to see if it was H1N1. We are still waiting. He is considered a probable case. No one else in our house got sick, despite the fact that he had a bad case of it, including subsequent pneumonia.
I am absolutely stunned to see the high school still open!! My daughter's husband works there and sheis pregnant with an 18 month-old at home... How thoughtless can you get????
Alison--what sense are you trying to make?? Use the high school for an incubation center???
This is the same as strep throat or any other illness. By the time someone shows any symptoms, many others have ALREADY been exposed!!! That is not saying it is an "incubation center". That is saying the reality is that people were already exposed BEFORE there was a diagnosis!!! Even if someone is suspected of having "Swine Flu" they are told to stay home for 7 days by doctors. The test results may take longer than that. It runs the course of the regular flu, but is not prevented by the Flu Shot. If you have this, you need to get to the doctor and get the anti-viral meds for the Flu! As far as the high school goes, if they already know the test is positive, than anyone who would have been exposed, probably would've gotten sick by now.
...and so aaallll the schools acros the contry are doing the 'wrong' thing by clsoing down and cleaning them out??? I mean is Amherst beyond this silliness becasue they are so intelligent??? I don't get it...really...I don't get this?? So a few can suffer and ummmm...maybe those who are already exposed can ummm just expose their families further and uh, uh, maybe our test logs are just too backed up to make a difference in results getting out and so suffer the few so the rest can go to school???
Let's face it --- everyone is in vacation mode already, little is being accomplished except babysitting now. So, what's to lose and what's to gain? A no brainer.
No, I am not suggesting that ARHS act as an incubator for illness!! As Anon 8:12 pointed out, by the time most patients are diagnosed with Type A influenza there is often a gap of days between the initial presence of symptoms and the diagnosis. Thus, the seven day quarantine time period (based on first symptoms) may have already expired and the infected student might already have been attending classes while awaiting diagnosis. Many cases are mild.
The CDC no longer recommends the closure of schools upon confirmation of H1N1 among the students/faculty. Instead, it states: "K-12 Schools: School dismissal is not advised for a suspected or confirmed case of novel influenza A (H1N1) and, in general, is not advised unless there is a magnitude of faculty or student absenteeism that interferes with the school’s ability to function."
Students at ARHS are preparing for and taking finals in these last days of school; it seems like a bad time to close, especially if there is only one case.
What a joke!
Finals before health...yes now this is making sense....
Amherst College didn't close when they had multiple cases. They are following proper guidlines. If you or your family members don't feel comfortable with the situation it is your right not to enter the building.
Why not use a collective brain here and relocate for the high school finals and clean up the high school--and while they are at it what about the mold found in WW?? What about the swing that injured the little one in their playground?? Who is running this circus anyway?
The mold found right next door to MM was enough for the university to totally demolish the trailer it was found in. Do you know the gentleman who runs the air quality tests for our schools, Ron B., has no recent test results of any building in the system for clean air quality and yet the learning must go one....the risk of our children's health is second....for the learning, and oh yeah, the finals must go on...
Anon: 10:43
Are you serious? I mean the livliehood of the father in this family and the bread on his table and the clothes on his children's back is only at risk here if he doesn't show up for work--but thanks for the great tip.
I'm not going to respond to all of these, since they really had nothing to do with my blog posting ... but let me point out two things.
1. As Alison wisely points out (using her actual name), the district is following proper health procedures as recommended by the CDC.
2. This blog is actually not the official blog of the school district or superintendent. Serious health-related complaints should be directed to the superintent (gerykm@arps.org) OR the school committee as a whole (schoolcommittee@arps.org).
Seeing you are the only SC member with the "guts" to have an anonymous blog, and seeing that SC members are responsible for the overall health of the school district, policy wise, the ball is in your court. Like it or not. So good luck, now that you have been informed of the WW mold and Ron B's shortcomings.
Anonymous 11:16 - let me be clear. The superintendent has said very clearly that she won't respond to complaints from blogs (appropriately, I might add). If you want those issues considered, you have two choices:
1. Email (which you can do using a made up name on hotmail) the superintendent and/or the School Committee.
2. Email me privately using your actual name (casanderson@amherst.edu).
Appropriate it or sweeping the issues under the rug (a mountainous one at that!) as they are well known for doing???
Anonymous 11:59 - send me an email with your actual name. That's all I'm asking.
First of all, I am not Anon 11:59, but I do empathize with an individual who wishes to remain anonymous, especially when either his/her job or child's future is at risk. One has only to Goggle (or I should say Bing) noted whistleblowers and read how their lives changed, for the worse, after coming forward. All the federal and state safeguards which are on the books failed to protect them.
Now granted we are not talking about Deep Throat. But we do know that there exists many small minded people in places of authority in the People's Republic, if I may borrow Larry K's words. So, I guess that I'm thanking you for providing this blog and allowing truths to be aired. Hopefully, once such facts see the light of day, something will be done about them.
Anonymous 3:28 - I will go forward and make issues known without using the person's name IF that person communicates with me privately using his or her actual name. There is thus no danger of consequences. If you or others have concerns that should be addressed, you should contact me privately -- because concerns that are just written anonymously on a blog are not actually going to be addressed.
...as are so many other issues....at least they are now known...
"concerns that are just written anonymously on a blog are not actually going to be addressed."
That's very sad to hear.
to anon. 10:45 -- This is a blog, not the Justice Department. I think Larry Kelley's got it wrong - this isn't the People's Republic, it's the Whiny Republic.
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