Schools work to combat the flu

WEBSTER, Miss. (WCBI)- While severe weather closed many schools Tuesday, something else has been keeping students out of class for a few weeks.

It’s flu season.

And school administrators are doing their best to keep it out of their classrooms.

This time of year teachers and principals are just as focused on their students’ physical health as they are on their intellectual growth.

So, they’re putting in some extra class work to keep the bug at bay.

“We would rather stop it before it happens then chasing it trying to catch up,” said Jodi Brand.

Flu season is here, and schools across the area are doing everything they can to keep their students healthy.

From spraying down desks to wiping down, door handles everything is getting a good cleaning.

For East Webster Elementary School they start with their youngest students.

“We start early so in kindergarten the kindergarten teachers are very very good about teaching those procedures. You go to the restroom use hand sanitizer, use soap. Sneeze into your elbow, cough into your elbow. So we just start from the youngest available that we get in kindergarten and we work our way up,” said Brand.

Teachers then step in to keep their rooms clean and sanitized. They rely heavily on the support of parents to get them the supplies they need.

“At the very beginning of the school year we have a class supply list that goes home with the students, and the parents are our number one providers. They give us hand sanitizer Kleenex Lysol wipes for our desks, and daily we wipe our desks down we wipe down iPads and chrome books and light fixtures anything that’s touched,” said Margret Nichols.

But the work doesn’t stop when flu season ends. They try to keep everyone healthy from the day school starts to the end of the year.

“It’s kind of a year-round process course we do a lot of cleaning and things in the summer and as soon as school starts in August. Because a lot of times you’ll have early flu cases, it starts, and it’s just a year-round process,” Kimberly Stallings.

“Keep down the sickness. Keep a clean school. I’m sure to get the restrooms, and the water fountains have been a lot of time in the restrooms,” said James Payton.

It’s important to keep students as healthy as possible so they can keep on learning.

“The healthier we keep our students, the better they are going to be able to perform in the classroom, and just the general cleanliness of the building makes for a better educational environment for the students, and it’s just well for everybody all the way around,” said Stallings.

Stallings said if your child is sick the best thing you can do is not send them to school.

Keep them home and away from other kids.