September 2009

Preparing for H1N1 This School Year

By Gene R. Carter, Executive Director, ASCD

Districts and schools across the country are bracing for the H1N1 flu pandemic as the new school year begins. Even during typically flu-free summer months, the virus took hold in dozens of camps, prompting concerns that students are bringing more than new backpacks and school supplies into their classrooms. So far the concerns seem warranted; some school systems have already experienced multiple cases of H1N1 just a few weeks into the year.

Last month the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released new guidelines for school responses to H1N1. The recommendations have changed significantly since last year when less was known about H1N1 and even a single case of the flu could shutter a school for upwards of a week. H1N1 hasn't proven to be as lethal as originally thought, but young people are particularly vulnerable to the virus, which could spread widely because few people have developed immunity to it. The CDC's latest guidelines empower local stakeholders to make their own closure decisions that balance decreased exposure to the flu with the continuation of ongoing educational services.

Most schools are taking the CDC's new guidelines seriously and are diligently focusing on prevention. They are educating students about hand washing and coughing etiquette; thoroughly cleaning school surfaces; separating students and staff members who become ill during the school day; and communicating with parents so that sick children are kept at home until they've been fever-free for 24 hours, without the help of medication.

ASCD has created a special Web page at www.ascd.org/flu to be educators' definitive source on the H1N1 virus this school year. The page, which will be continually updated, includes information about the latest H1N1 developments and how to minimize the virus's effect on student learning. Highlighted resources are links to the federal government's www.flu.gov Web site and its communication toolkit for K–12 schools. ASCD also links to a School Dismissal Monitoring form, which was created by the CDC and the Department of Education, to allow school officials to report on H1N1-related dismissals.

But in addition to prevention and monitoring efforts, schools must consider how they plan to support continuous learning, both for individual students who are home for extended periods of time with the flu, and in the event the virus spreads widely, forcing closures.

Over the summer, officials from Maryland's Anne Arundel County Public Schools prepared contingency plans in case schools are closed and discussed how to offer homework assignments or teach online. Los Angeles Unified School District is contemplating delivering lessons and instructions through public-access television, automated phone calls, the Internet, and the mail. In Fairfax County, Virginia, about 200 principals attended a flu briefing last month that addressed how to maintain a Web site that allows students to keep up with assignments from home.

Less clear is how schools plan to help students once they're back in school. Some estimates indicate H1N1 could infect half the U.S. population this fall and winter, which translates into considerable classroom disruption and absenteeism. Students in the same class could end up in wildly different places in the curriculum. Meanwhile, entire classes could fall behind if their teachers are out sick for several days.

ASCD is working with the Department of Education to develop recommendations for how educators can support learning upon students' return to school. We believe educators will have to work together to assess knowledge and skills when students return, develop plans for instructional next steps that will quickly get students to where they need to be, and modify unit and lesson plans accordingly. Such intensive work will require educators to support one another, preferably through professional learning communities that allow them to collaborate to address student needs.

It was no accident that Secretary of Education Arne Duncan joined with Secretaries Kathleen Sebelius of the Department of Health and Human Services and Janet Napolitano of the Department of Homeland Security, as well as CDC Director Thomas Frieden, to announce the CDC's new flu guidelines for schools. The federal government is modeling the collaboration that is essential at the local level. School efforts to prevent the spread of flu and support ongoing learning won't gain traction unless educators work together to ensure each student is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.

• Visit ASCD's "This School Year and H1N1" resource page: www.ascd.org/flu.
• Access the latest information from the federal government: www.flu.gov.

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