Dateline Minneapolis: Schools managed flu fears with diligence

As fears about the spread of swine flu outbreak take on a less panic-stricken tone, it's easy to forget that Minnesota school districts, in conjunction with the state Health Department, worked quickly to update thousands of parents about an event that many feared would be a dangerous epidemic.

In the metro area, Minneapolis public schools was one of the first districts where a probable case was identified. As a precaution, the district announced that Emerson Spanish Immersion School would close for seven days beginning May 5 based on state health guidelines.

Despite the initial warning, the school reopened after one day when the Health Department issued revised guidelines that said closing entire schools was unnecessary even if a probable swine flu case had been identified.

Minneapolis parents learned about the potential case through an automated phone messaging system and updates on the district website on May 3 -- the Sunday before Emerson closed. Parents received automated calls again on May 5 saying the school would reopen on May 6.

Stan Alleyne, Minneapolis' communications director, said bus drivers followed their normal routes on the morning of May 5 and picked up 16 Emerson students whose families hadn't heard about the closing. More than 550 students attend the K-8 south Minneapolis elementary. Craig Vana, the district's associate superintendent for emergency management, said some of the students' parents were at the bus stops and students who were unaccompanied were taken to the school. After the students arrived the Emerson staff made calls to their families and arranged for them to be picked up or dropped off at home.

"It worked out well," Vana said. "We ran the buses because we didn't want any kids to be standing out there alone."

Later, as more probable cases were identified at Southwest High and Lake Harriet Elementary, district officials urged parents to keep any child with a fever, cough or other flu symptoms at home for seven days. There were no further school closings.

Carmen Teskey, Minneapolis' nursing services manager, said the practice has minimized disruption and the policy is based on Health Department guidance for other school districts and workplaces statewide. The state Health Department has implemented a tracking system to monitor absenteeism in schools.

Emerson Principal Mark Quinn said on average about 15 to 20 students are absent from school each day, but since the swine flu outbreak earlier this month as many as 50 students had been absent each day.

Quinn said he had used the phone messaging system before, but the swine flu outbreak marked the first time he had used the system in a crisis.

"One of the students came up to me and said, 'Thank you for calling me and telling me I could come back to school,' " he said. "She thought I had done them all individually."

Alleyne said the system will help the district reduce the amount of letters it sends home to parents.

"If we have a true emergency this system allows us to communicate with parents and guardians immediately on their work phone, home phone or cell phone," Alleyne said. "People shouldn't be surprised next year if they hear their principal's voice on their home phone more often."

Emerson parent Mark Wight agreed that the district communicated early and often during the swine flu scare. His daughter Kathryn, 7, attends first grade at the school. He said his wife, Krista Wight, listened to the first automated message on a Sunday afternoon as he watered their lawn.

While Wight said he believes state and national health officials and the news media overdramatized the outbreak and fueled widespread panic, "Regardless of my opinion," the district "did a good job communicating. There were at least two calls [on Sunday] that detailed the closing of the school and how they were handling the situation.

"The kids who weren't in school, their parents probably had to take off work. That's lost money in the economy. But in the end, I realize everyone was just trying to do their jobs."

Patrice Relerford • 612-673-4395