While the Tomball Independent School District has yet to report a positive case of swine flu among its students or staff, plans appear to be in place should an outbreak occur.

District spokesperson Staci Stanfield said the district is performing “business as usual” as dozens of school districts across the state and nation, including Huntsville ISD, have temporarily shut their doors after reporting positive tests.

According to Stanfield, Tomball ISD has plans in place in case of an outbreak. Posted on the district’s website is a 33-page document directed by the Harris County Public Health and Environmental Services.

The plan states that all school and extra-curricular activities should be cancelled should more than 10 percent but less than 30 percent of students at a particular school test positive for a “pandemic flu.”

The only mandate in place that calls for the automatic closure of all schools is unless 30 percent or more students in a school have a positive swine flu test.

In the case of fewer than 10 percent of students ill, a letter will be sent to parents about how to be prepared for an outbreak and how to prevent further spread of a virus.

So far this year, Stanfield said the district has not seen an increase in the number of reported absences.

“In the beginning of the school year, absences go up and down,” she said. “That’s not uncommon. There is not really a major increase over what we had this time last year.”

Among the precautions the district is taking has been placing large, 60-ounce bottles of hand sanitizer in every classroom of the district, Stanfield said. In addition, information about the district’s response to a possible pandemic flu outbreak is being posted on the district’s website as it is being delivered to the district.

“We’re really trying to get information to parents by utilizing the website,” Stanfield said.

But one of the most important steps parents can take, she added, is to keep children who are sick at home.

“It’s so very important to make sure a parent does not send a child to school with flu-like symptoms,” Stanfield said. “We don’t want parents to give their children a fever-reducing medication and send them to school. That could only spread the virus to other students.”

The Center for Disease Control recommends that students who have a fever only return to school after they have been fever-free for 24 hours.

To view Tomball ISD’s complete flu plan, visit tomballisd.net and click on “For Parents” on the right side column.

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