Teachers Count

Poll on H1N1 (Swine) Flu

Last year, the Illinois General Assembly passed a law requiring all public schools to reserve time at the beginning of each school day for "silent prayer or silent reflection on the anticipated activities of the day." The law quickly generated controversy and a lawsuit regarding the separation of church and state.

In an online poll that took place from July through September, 2009, visitors to TeachersCount.org were asked to offer their opinions on whether or not they thought that schools should be closed due to concerns of H1N1 (swine) flu.

A total of 112 respondents, 85 of whom described themselves as educators, participated in the poll. Participants chose among the following possible responses:

Yes, I think that schools with a confirmed H1N1 (swine) flu case need to be closed to help prevent other students from getting sick.
No, closing schools cuts into precious learning time and students spend the time together anyway.
I don't understand what all this fuss over H1N1 (swine) flu is about.

The majority of respondents, 50.9%, felt that schools should not close due to swine flue concerns because closing schools cuts into precious learning time and students spend the time together anyway. 27.7% of respondents said that the schools should close because they thought that schools with a confirmed H1N1 (swine) flu case need to be closed to help prevent other students from getting sick. The final 21.4% of respondents did not understand what all the fuss over H1N1 (swine) flu is about.

While in agreement overall, educators and non-educators differed slightly in the skew of their responses. Many more educators, 85, than non-educators, 27, responded. Amongst educators, 48.2% felt schools should not close due to H1N1 (swine) flu. 59.3% of all non-educators felt the same way which is both a majority and more dominant. A higher percentage of educators, 29.4%, than non-educators, 22.2%, thought that schools need to be closed with a confirmed case. 22.4% of educators and 18.5% of non-educators did not understand what the fuss is about.

The poll invited respondents to comment, and many of them did. Below is a sampling of comments arranged by response.

“Yes, I think that schools with a confirmed H1N1 (swine) flu case need to be closed to help prevent other students from getting sick.” – 27.7%

They need to be closed until the specific case or cases can be isolated and those students/staff can be keep home until they are well. If it spreads beyond those few students even more students will end up losing out on learning and it could last for months!
I think with all the technology we have, the students in schools that close due to an epidemic could have computer schooling at home until they can return to class. This way, they wouldn’t miss any of their lessons due to time off!!
The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology reported that the H1N1 flu virus could cause up to 90,000 U.S. deaths, mainly among children and young adults. The World Health Organization declared the H1N1 virus a global pandemic in June.

“No, closing schools cuts into precious learning time and students spend the time together anyway.” – 50.9%

Schools need to properly educate both students and parents about proper hyigene skills in order to avoid spreading/catching H1N1.
Closing the school(s) may decrease the cases but for how long can schools remained closed?? Should we close EACH time we find a new case? I believe students with confirmed cases should just not be permitted to return until they have a doctor's clean bill of health...
If it is airborne, closing school will not solve the problem. Walking down the street, riding the bus or even handling the handles on a grocery cart are potentially germy and infectious places where people could infect others.

“I don't understand what all this fuss over H1N1 (swine) flu is about.” – 9.9%

Flu is the flu. If there were truly an OUTBREAK locally, then common sense would say to not let people interact, but I think, once again, someone over-reacted and as a result counties all over the nation wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars because the government required them to do certain things. That money could have been spent more sensibly, especially in the economy as it is now and the lack of health care in general.
I realize that there is a concern, but the media should not have made a big fuss about it. It really worried a lot of parents, teachers, and kids, when really there hasn't been any major outbreaks at all.
I think if parents and teachers are teaching the children proper hygiene habits you won't need to worry about the H1N1 virus.