Schools are appropriately cautious

Many suburban students will be getting extra days off this week as a result of swine flu precautions.

As Daily Herald staff writers Matt Arado and Robert McCoppin reported Saturday, no educator likes to close school. But with potential cases of the H1N1 flu reported among their school population, closing is the right decision.

In all cases, the schools are relying on county health officials to make the call. Again, we think that's prudent, and we encourage parents and the community to back their schools when it comes to these precautions.

"They're the experts on this, we're not," said Tony Sanders, spokesman for Elgin Area School District U-46, which has closed an elementary school in Streamwood and Larkin High School in Elgin. Both are closed until Friday.

"This kind of decision is never made lightly, but when public health is involved, we have to take our lead from the experts," Sanders said.

The decision to close unfortunately affects extracurricular activities, making it even harder, especially for high schools in the middle of the spring sports season and other end-of-year activities. Besides Larkin, Batavia High School and Rotolo Middle School in Batavia, Haines Middle School in St. Charles, Marmion Academy in Aurora and St. Edward Central Catholic High School in Elgin all have been or continue to be closed.

"It's a significant action to take, but how can we say at this point that's an overreaction?" said Bill Dussling, president of the Northwest Suburban High School District 214 school board. "This involves the safety of students and staff. That's a huge priority."

District 214, so far, has not had to close any schools.

Nationally, CBS News reported Sunday night that 470 schools have been closed in 18 states, affecting 270,000 students. Latest reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say the median age of cases is 17, so it's clear that protecting school-age children is necessary.

Luckily, two new probable cases reported Sunday - one in Lake Bluff and another one in Wheeling - did not result in school closings. In Lake Bluff, the child was new to town and not yet enrolled, and in Wheeling, the child had not been in school since the symptoms appeared.

"There was a low potential for transmission ... (and) there had been no recent changes in absenteeism rates," said Cook County Health Department spokeswoman Amy Poore of the Wheeling case. "If we didn't think that it was safe to go to school, we would have recommended closure."

And that's the key. The health departments are looking at each case and making a determination on the proper steps. Similar action was taken in DuPage County, where the health department did not recommend closing Wood Dale Junior High.

We recommended a cautious approach - as opposed to panic - last week for all, and we reiterate that now as it relates to schools. We all bear responsibility to make sure we keep the spread of the flu infections to a minimum.