Dear Parents and Guardians,
 
The Blount County Schools, like most school systems are beginning to see children with flu-like symptoms and desire to work with you to mitigate the impact to our students.  Therefore the purpose of this letter is to keep you informed and ask for your assistance in containing this virus.
 
Please keep children home who have a fever (100 degrees) and exhibit flu-like symptoms.  Simply put, children should be fever-free for 24 hours without any medication before they return to school or a related school activity. We need your help and vigilance to keep our students from spreading the virus at school. Moreover, encourage your children to wash their hands before eating and often during the day. They should cover all coughs and let a teacher or staff member know if they are not feeling well.
 
Teachers are both educating their students about best practices for not contracting or spreading the virus and committing to practices within the classroom that discourage the spread of the flu.   We continue to review proper hand washing and how to cover coughs as we move forward. Finally, we are asking our custodians to wipe down door knobs and high traffic surfaces with an antibacterial solution as often as possible.
 
The latest information from the Blount County Health Department and the CDC (Center for Disease Control) is to follow the same guidelines as we do for seasonal flu.  We will continue to monitor the H1N1 flu through the Blount County Health Department and the CDC. In the meantime you may find the following links helpful as you continue to look for information.
 
If you have any questions or concerns, please call your child’s school nurse or check out the website http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/sick.htm <http://www.webbschool.org/podium/log/pushpage_link_log.aspx?send_id=cc778465-4c93-4382-a42d-c6fb1d124961&target=http%3a%2f%2fwww.cdc.gov%2fh1n1flu%2fsick.htm> or
http://www.tennessee.gov/education/SwineFluInfo.shtml