A recent increase in activity suggests the flu season — including H1N1 — has arrived more than a month ahead of normal. Medical Clinics in the area have slowed on the testing for H1N1 because that is done at a state level and takes longer, but the symptoms would indicate the presence of H1N1.
The Wausa Elementary will be closed for the rest of the week due to the high number of children sick. The Wausa Jr. and Sr. High will remain open and continue to operate during normal hours.
The field trip for the 4th and 6th grades scheduled for tomorrow has been cancelled. If students that are healthy and would like to attend their parents may drive them to the Johnny Carson Theatre in Norfolk for the play “Laura Ingalls Wilder”. You must be at the box office by 9:45 am tomorrow and tell them you are with the Wausa Elementary.
Category: News
Maybe the school officials should have closed it last week to avoid the problems this week…
I’m all for closing school . . . as long as the sick kids STAY HOME!!
Who knows your gonna get sick a week from now?
We’ve heard the warnings, whynot just close school for the semester and make it up next summer? The school has plenty to deal with and forcasting streaks of illness in advance is beyond there controll. If you want to vent, go after the weatherman since they have kept the kids inside here for the last month.
Thank you school officials for the job that you do! I know from working in the school it is sometimes a thankless job!
Comment #3 is a load of crap… The school knew that there was a TON of kids sick on Friday and they did not follow the 20% rule. It was only going to get worse. There is a reason the education system has a marker in place when it comes to % of sick kids and closing. It’s not ROCKET SCIENCE #3 Comment.
And although it may be a thankless job they should still follow proper procedure.
It is a tough call to close school for anything. Weather or sickness. I don’t think that closing on Monday or Tuesday would have made any difference. Let’s get our kids well and back to school soon and I think closing for the rest of the week is a good way to get that done.
Get Well Everyone!!
#5 appears to be a real genius even though in the minority of practical, logical thinkers.
The load of crap you refer to is your own hindsight remarks. Since the administration and school board did not share your wisdom, maybe you could join them and enlighten all of us. If your in to medicine maybe you could forecast the next great health adventure at school and save the district millions. You could go on tv and shove your own crap down everybody elses throat and be a real hero for thekids. And the administration gets thanked twice a month at the bank for their thankless job thank you. Just maybe they could take some rocket science courses to be able to tell the diffrences between the two, or you could teach them. Maybe one of those school officials could write there resoning and apoligize to #5.
Maybe those who don’t think the right thing was done could get the vaccine for our Drs. so that the kids could have been vaccinated before it spread so much. When I phoned the Dr. to see if they had the vaccine I was told no that it had all been shipped to WalMarts and Wallgreens and they didn’t think they would be getting any. Not easy to protect our kids when that happens.
The H1N1 virus is an evolving process. The CDC sends out many guidelines and has changed their recommendations regarding closing schools/staying home/etc. Best recommendations–if you or your child is ill with a fever of 100 degrees or more with a cough/sore throat. STAY HOME with rest and forcing fluids until fever free for 24 hours. This is a respiratory droplet virus–stay at least 6 feet away from those who are ill. It was a wise decision to close the school at this time–please keep your kids at home until they are better.
#7 it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that if over 20% of the school population is sick on Friday to call school off on Friday rather than wait them out and infect others. By Tuesday nearly 50% (if not over 50%) were sick in the Elementary.
HOW IS THAT NOT LOGICAL!!! YOU DON”T HAVE TO FORCAST A THING WHEN IT HAPPENED ON FRIDAY!!! CALL SCHOOL ON FRIDAY INSTEAD OF WAITING TILL MOST OF THE SCHOOL IS SICK ON TUESDAY! NOT JUST THE ELEMENTARY, THE WHOLE SCHOOL!
Now most of the High School is sick! By not calling school as per recommended at 20% they are playing with a loaded gun. Some with H1N1 in our area have gone into commas with the virus. No vaccines are available in the area. This is pure stupidity on the schools part to not call school off on Friday.
I don’t understand how you think this is not logical. #9 Comment said it is a Respiratory droplet Virus-stay at least 6 feet away. That is how it spreads! If they would have kept people home they could have avoided the larger population getting sick at school. The virus could have run its course in the 20% of people (of course a small amount would have been sick from other sources) and we would have avoided the greater population getting sick. Why do you think the recommendations are there for schools to close when that many people are sick… The way you talk they shouldn’t close at all.
Don’t try to throw personal attacks, if they did the right thing what are the facts to back it up. Don’t just be a jerk and try to be smart when obviously you lack something between the ears if all you can do is be mean.
I don’t see why people are arguing about when school should have been cancelled. The school has made the decision NOW and what’s done is done. There’s really no sense in arguing about the coulda, shoulda, woulda’s. The best way to keep from spreading this is exactly what #9 said….unfortunately it’s impossible to make sure everyone follows this rule, so I agree, cancelling school at this time is a wise choice.
Hey Barney, this is interesting to say the least, but I like your comments the best (and you’re not alone)!!
When one person thinks that closing the school a few days earlier is going to make a mega-difference in controlling this virus, I’d have to first listen to those in the medical community for verification or send them all to WalMart (#8).
For my wife and I the challenges are greater than just which days get canceled. We have 9 grandkids (on a good day) that attend Wausa Elementary/HS, so ‘Day Care’ really becomes a scheduling nightmare at times, as we’re sure it is no different with others.
After reading the listed comments we feel that ‘calling school’ is a crapshoot at times and perhaps future decision making may be improved.
On the brighter side, this could be a great, (unintentional 7-12) research study in ‘Distance Learning’ considering that each home bound-student has a computer connected with each of their teachers.
Josh, what do we do if the computers spread this virus? Will all these ‘canceled days’ have to be made up in the spring which could create another illness of a different kind? Thanks for having created this format for discussion.
#11 Comment: The point is we have not even got into the Seasonal Flu and from what I understand it is going to be a tough season. We need to complain so the same problem doesn’t happen again. We need the school to learn from their mistakes and make sure they do the correct thing. Just like when they sent our kids out for a field trip during a Winter Storm Warning last year.
They closed school too late. It should have been closed earlier to protect our children. They could have minimized the scope of the illness by closing earlier is the entire point. I doubt anyone with children disagrees (deep down inside) that it would have been nice if they would have. I maybe am not saying it in the most P.C. way.
And again you prove my point by saying to stop the spread is to stay home. There should have been no school this week at all.
WOW…Traci thanks for what you put on here!
Josh, you must connect with the beat of other school districts during this flu season disruption. Wausa can’t be the only district suffering from this viral onslaught, SO, do you know what other surrounding districts are doing?
There was mention in an earlier post about having our local Administration provide us with some guidelines on their process of making health/safety related decisions. That would be enlightening which could shed some light on the flu-problems and last year’s field trip fiasco.
Traci says, ‘what’s done is done’, which obviously is true but it doesn’t go far enough to make sure this problem gets studied and remedied with wiser decisions.
This entire country has been turned upside down with H1N1 scare tactics, lacking the proper immunizations and falling behind in the production/dissemination of such.
I hope we all agree that it’s very difficult to make accurate decisions when you don’t have but fractured information, whether that be in a football game or fighting flu-bugs! There is nothing wrong in being slightly out of sync as long as this process doesn’t become a bad habit!
What did they do in the old days, and I refer to my elementary school years? I do remember things like mumps, measles (I remember those since they returned as Shingles a month ago!), but I can’t recall any type of flu epidemics that closed school.
Maybe we were toughened and chiseled by having to walk 3 miles to school everyday in those 3′ deep snowdrifts. Could it be that we were the lucky ones to have had only one phone and no TV in school? How did we all survive in that ‘cave’ without instant, electronic and digital communications? We’ve not simplified our problems, we’ve magnified them.
Hello all,
Until you have lead a school (or two), balanced its budget, dealt with the state, fieled dozens of phone calls from parents, managed a school year calendar, and have done it all for a less that stellar wage, I think you should settle down. It is really sad that so many people have anger enough to berate our school without the courage to sign their names. I don’t like sick kids any more than anyone else does, but life is life. The school did not scheme to hurt our children, nor do they have a crystal ball. Give them a break.
Thanks for reading.
I also agree with Traci, why argue about it now, whats done is done and we can learn by past mistakes. Arguing won’t solve any thing. Let it go Anonymous!
I think the school knows they made a mistake and everyone here kinda admits that they made a mistake… The point is I am not arguing I just want the policies that are in place followed. I don’t think personal attacks like in comment #7 are called for. Present your facts against me, a “Counter Point” if you will… No one has done that. They just say “leave the school alone”.
BTW it isn’t alot of people just me so far that has been vocal against the school. I started the comment as #1. Shelly the reason I don’t put my name down is because it is a small town and we all know what people in small towns like to do.
I really appreciate this forum and have commented on many stories as Anonymous. It lets things get aired properly and without worry of “persecution”. What difference does it make if I put my name down, other than to let people talk about what I said on a website or so you can judge the comment based on the name.
Also, these administrators get paid to do this job. They are hired knowing these are the issues they have to deal with. So your comment on “Until you have lead a school (or two)..” is a poor arguement. Your right I have not, nor would I want to run a school (I was not hired to do so). The people hired wanted to and accepted the pay (whatever it may be)and also the tasks that go along with this job. If they don’t like hearing from the parents or public then, how does the saying go “…get out of the kitchen.”
The deal with the illness was really cut and dry. They had 20% of the school population gone on Friday. You call school off, that is how it is (doesn’t matter if it was stomach flu or H1N1). Too many times the school doesn’t have a proper plan in place and they “wing it”. We can have no more of that. School Officials YOU MUST BE PREPARED PROPERLY. Sports, Books, Computers, Illness, Weather, Building Weight Rooms; it doesn’t matter be better prepared.
I wonder what the staff felt like about this issue. Staff members please comment on your views. Let us know, did the school do the proper thing or should they have let out earlier. Post as anonymous.
We would love to hear from you.
It’s helpful that this website allows us to air our opinions in a public fashion. Annon. #18, you say that you don’t have to fear persecution when you post, because you do it anonymously. Do you realize that by doing so you undermine your opinion in the eyes of others?
That is, if there’s not a name behind it, your words carry less weight. What you have to say may have a grain (or a bushel load) of truth, but many will not listen because you were not willing to put a face to the words.
This is not to say that my opinion is that a policy change is in order for the mywausanews site. I believe that if you want to post anonymously, you should be allowed to do just that. Just don’t expect to get much respect when you start complaining right off the bat and then don’t even sign your name.
You are proving my point. You are making judgements based on the name (Anonymous) by saying my comments “…carry less weight”.
What is the difference if my name was John or Cass or Denny or Michelle? Would you base the comment’s weight on that name? You are already prone to making judgements based on a name (Anonymous).
Only 7 others have added their name to the comments out of 20 comments. Does my comment hold no weight because I am against the grain and calling out the school? or does all the comments with anonymous cause a predisposed opinion with you?
Really what point does putting a name have on a comment?
Gives you the ability to gossip about me by name to others. You should re-evaluate your argument as you just proved why I don’t add my name.
You obviously agree with me, so lets stay on topic and talk about the facts and not worry about if I put my name on my comment or not.
The Yankton Press and Dakotan ran a good article about the Wausa School Closing.
http://yankton.net/articles/2009/10/22/community/doc4adfefa7090d1028023188.txt
i ain’t putting my name up!!!
Wow! Never has anything gotten so many comments. I think the Yankton Press article was a very good one – take the time to read it. Exceeding 20% is what Mr. Marks was going by, so it doesn’t seem like he didn’t follow CDC recommendations. This is a tough call – the illness is so fluid. I guess I do not understand why they would still plan to play football – it doesn’t seem that should be any different than the decision they have made to close school. I support the administation. And parents – keep your kids HOME, seeing them run around town, etc is defeating the whole purpose of closing school.
i am part of the staff at the school as many of you know….and i liked the comment from Shelly Story….you can’t judge the issues unless you have been in the shoes of these people…yes there have been mistakes made…do we NOT LEARN FROM OUR MISTAKES…..Yes we do…no has done anything to harm the children…we are in the school system FOR OUR CHILDREN….making the decision to close was a good decision and no one disagrees with that….our numbers were not that bad friday…i know cuz i take attendance…once the numbers came up the discussion came up do we or don’t we….either way it would have been a bad call…..if we would have closed there would have been people upset….and now that we did “to Late” as you say…people are upset…you cannot make everyone happy all the time…as long as our children are OK why all the fuss?
I work at the school, and unfortunately have contracted this illness, as well as my kids. I think that hindsight is always 20/20 and like traci said, what’s done is done. The one thing I would have changed is once the decision was made to close, it should have been K-12, not just elem. The building itself is full of the illness and 7-12 kids use the same hallways and lunchroom as elementary kids. How did they think that 7-12 wouldn’t get sick? Also, since school is now closed for K-12 for illness, shouldn’t that mean that one act practices scheduled for Friday should also be cancelled?
Number Vun. Dere are vays ve can finds you. And ven ve do……….Now, signs ze papers, old man.
So Vicki since you gave us an open and said not that many kids were sick on Friday.
What do you consider not that many?
20 – 30 – 40????
How many were absent on Friday? 35ish???
Let’s not forget staff gone due to illness…
I’ve found by reading the posts on My Wausa News, that most of the time, the Anonymous signed posts, are the ones complaining. I know some of you are afraid of persecution, but I can already guess who you might be, without a doubt. And it surprises me that you are not confident in giving your name. I do think the Administration should have called off school for 7-12 at the same time as the Elementary. I also think Friday was too early to call off school. But what’s DONE IS DONE !! Some people will never stop complaining and most of the time you can’t make them happy, no matter what you do. If you don’t like the way things are ran, get on the School Board. Let’s hope everyone gets well over the long weekend. Thank you to all Administration and Staff for keeping our kids safe.
The power of politics and money rear their ugly heads when it comes to cancellations and whom actually gets canceled. The football game is still ‘on’ based on the financial commitment of Newcastle with their fiscal contract with the USD Domed stadium. To drop out of that contract, since Wausa had paid to play there last season, turns into some hard feelings in the conference. Nuff-said.
As far as scheduling ‘play-practice’ when school is called for an epidemic health threat is in total violation of common sense. It appears that more politics are at play here, no pun, than money.
Next week will get here soon enough and life will go on, albeit a bit weaker around the gills.
I’d like to know how/why school was closed via ‘word of mouth’. We’re on the calling tree and were left totally in the fog/snow respective of that decision! What am I missing here?
From what I read with the H1N1 the 20% rule was not to be used. The virus is spread to others 3 to 7 days before a person comes down with symptoms and by Friday it was already too late to stop the spread. When the schools in Lincoln and Columbus had way over the 20% of the students out in one day the administration was told by the state health department to NOT close down the school. This was also supported and explained on the CDC web site. It appears Wausa Public decided to buck the tend and the state health department and close the school for the welfare of the students. I would guess that the state health department will not be happy with this decision but as parents and from the comments made here we all are.
More important, to see such an outbreak of a communicable disease it appears our children may not know how to prevent the spread of the flu virus. I know my children will hear at length ways to prevent the spread. A few may be to not stick pencils and such items in their mouths, not touching the drinking fountain with their lips, to not share tooth brushes, cups, and soda pop bottles,.and practice coughing into the fold of the elbow but remembering to wash hands after and not touch other people in this area. I know that they have all been told but it seems a good thing to review again.
God bless our children and pregnant women in our community to protect them from harm from this virus.
On the lighter side of all this, and the source is kept in confidence, I received a phone call this evening explaining that the virus has spread to their computer. An actual meltdown of the hard drive via some naughty virus shut their computer down.
If this was a joke I’d remain anonymous, but it is true, exploding at least a couple of households into some short-lived laughter!
On the serious side, and after reading the differing-dialogue from #1-#31, careful considerations were made by our administration to error on the ‘safe and healthy’ side when they did. From the overwhelming number of posts that were made to support this decision I believe it is time to ‘find a different turkey to fry’. Only 5 weeks to Thanksgiving!
15 TOTAL….i don’t think that warrents school closing!!!
Some good information has been brought up on both sides. It has been a good discussion. Diane brought facts to counter my belief that school should have closed earlier. Thank you for the information Diane.
This is how a discussion is suppose to go. Facts for the other side not “NOISE” about posting as anonymous or saying “leave the school alone”.
When we knew that it was this kind of flu I think 15 does warrant closing school. Especially when staff members are also sick.
There was a staff member #26 that was in agreement.
When two coaches have differing opinions, the last one to use the chalk wins. In this case we have run out of chalk, deal with it, and let’s all get on with the game!
Dear comment #34,
If you claim that this is your open forum to discuss issues, then please understand that when you strike a nerve, people are going to examine more that just the main point you are trying to make. Anonymous or not, your public comments are open to scrutiny, as are mine.
Many of us like to give the school the benefit of the doubt, and you have not seemed as quick to do as much. I asked you to “leave the school alone” because I don’t feel they deserve the PUBLIC berating. It’s no different that sitting in the cafe and trashing them. It’s not appropriate. If you really feel that strongly about an issue, and you don’t want the entire town to know who you are, then just have the courtesy to call the school officials and tell them personally.
When I first learned of the new school schedule that was to be implememented this year, and had questions and comments, I I called Mr. Marks and had a grown-up discussion with him. My opinions did not need to be plastered all over a website, and in calling him directly, I could stand behind what I said.
Janie is right, your comments lose credibility when they are anonymous.
Christmas is just around the corner. If this bickering nonsense continues we will have missed sending our letters to Santa. The people’s-court/website has rendered its decision and we all know who won, deal with it!
How do you know I didn’t talk to the school. Bad assumption and you know what they say of assumptions Shelly… =)
Wausa sits on their thumbs so many times when it comes to this stuff. We need to be more vocal!
I will continue to post as anonymous and let all you people think you know who is posting. In the end you just want to gossip and I personally am not into that and would rather have my name out of any conversations as you drink coffee.
None of you know how to discuss these issues online is the point. Give facts to counter my argument like Diane did. That is how productive comments work. Not what you are doing trying to argue about posting anonymous. It’s a waste of time!
If you can’t spell the word ‘A non e-mouse’ correctly the rest of your self annointed wizdumb is just that! Your intellectual statement ‘vocal about stuff’ tells me where your thumbs are placed along with the rest of your head. You never had the guts to phone and discuss with school personnel any of these issues and it is for the same reason you can’t identify yourself. Giving you credit to think that none of us ‘know how to discuss issues online’ is one Bad Assumption, mr. Thesarus.
You have presented a boatload of ‘gossip’ for each person that contributed their ‘point of view’. According to you that is ‘how productive comments work’. How do you know we drink coffee?
So this is how you discuss the issue… Good Work. You prove my point. You must drink coffee. =)
No gossip just telling how I felt about school not letting out earlier. The best comment on here was Diane’s. The reset were just noise.