School briefs
A District 103 student who had contracted the H1N1 virus, also known as the swine flu, was back in school last week after a doctor cleared the student to return. The boy attends Home School in Stickney.
Superintendent Michael Warner declined to reveal the grade of the student. District 103 officials were informed of the case around 3 p.m. on May 26 by the child’s mother, Warner said. The boy had been out of school since May 20 and was given the green light to return to school on May 27.
“The doctor provided us with a written note that the child was cleared to come back,” Warner said on Thursday. “We’ll continue to make sure the student is OK and that there’s no fever. We’re confident the swine flu has passed.”
As a precaution, Warner said that the maintenance staff at Home School disinfected any areas the student had been in contact with. Warner notified parents of the case by letter on May 27.
“People are well-informed about the flu and no one was alarmed about the notice,” Warner said.
The school has not experienced an unusual jump in the number of absences reported in the past weeks, he added.
The H1NI virus is a new strain of swine flu for which there is no vaccine. As of May 29, there were just over 1,100 cases of the virus confirmed in Illinois, with 350 of those in suburban Cook County.
Since the virus was first identified as having arrived in the state in April, three Illinois residents have died after contracting the virus. Those victims had other significant health problems, according to published reports.
When the flu first appeared in school children, their schools were closed to contain outbreaks of the illness. Since that time, however, the Center for Disease Control has said it does not recommend closing schools. Rather, it is asking parents to keep sick children out of school until they are no longer infectious to others.
District 103 serves five communities, including Stickney, Lyons, McCook, Forest View and the southeast quarter of Brookfield.
New bus contract
Also at the May 26 meeting, the District 103 school board approved a new contract for bus service, accepting the low bid from Laidlaw, which currently provides the district’s bus service.
According to Warner, the new deal will result in a significant savings for the district in the final two years of the three-year deal. In the first year of the deal, the contract calls for Laidlaw to be paid $12,620 per week for the 13 twice-daily runs the district requires.
In years two and three of the deal the district will pay $6,940 per week for the same service.
For the 2008-09 school year, which ends this week, the district paid just over $12,000 per week.
“The bottom line is that we expect the district to save $400,000 over the term of the contract,” Warner said.