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School absences spiked to 13%
by Gregory R. Norfleet · News · February 15, 2018


West Branch Community Schools saw absences due to illness reach 13 percent one day at Hoover Elementary, which prompted a recent letter to parents encouraging them to keep sick children home.


Superintendent Kevin Hatfield said that, during flu and cold season, the school district saw absences ranging from 3 to 6 percent each day.

“We did anticipate a spike with the current flu season being so hard on students and families,” Hatfield said. “Unfortunately, and I speak from experience, during this season waiting rooms are full of people who seek the help of physicians.”

He noted that absences due to illness dropped below 10 percent the day after the spike.

Hatfield said that any day absences exceed 10 percent due to illness, the school must report that to the Cedar County Director of Health and contact parents.

School nurse Traci Fryauf-Hierseman wrote in an e-mail to parents on Jan. 25 that the school recorded a “handful of confirmed cases of Influenza along with strep, fever, gastroenteritis (stomach virus), the common cold and impetigo (a contagious bacterial skin infection forming pustules and yellow, crusty sores.)” The sicknesses were spread throughout the district, not just one building, and she encouraged frequent handwashing with soap and water.

“Our community has a great working relationship with Nurse Traci and our schools for over 11 years,” Hatfield said. “We are grateful for her proactive work.”

The superintendent said the school does not have a policy requiring a doctor’s note after three consecutive absences, he said, but does wellness/illness checks at three to five days “to see if families need assistance.”

“We do have five-day regulation and routinely ask families to consult a physician (non-hospitalized) in our elementary and middle school handbooks, and they will remain,” Hatfield wrote in an e-mail.