Public healthTo stem the spread of disease schools reconsidering attendance policies

Crowded schools spread infection // Source: southbrooklynpost.com

Due to public health concerns, a growing number of schools across the United States have stopped giving students awards for their attendance record.

In an effort to maintain their attendance records, many students likely went to school while sick, greatly increasing the risk of infecting others.

“The spread of disease in schools will in many ways impact the entire community,” said Dr. Anthony Billittier, the commissioner of health for Erie County, New York. “The diseases we’re concerned about spread from person to person, and person to object to person.”

Following the H1N1 flu outbreak in 2009, many school districts across the United States began reconsidering their attendance policies and many eventually chose to stop awarding students with perfect attendance records.

For instance officials at the Peru Central School District in New York elected to stop giving awards for attendance to not encourage children to attend school while they were sick with flu symptoms.

“We had heard from time to time of children attending school when they were best home in bed,” said Peru school superintendent A. Paul Scott. “This allows families to make decisions about what is best for their children.”

The district now awards students based on academics, citizenship, and good character, instead of just focusing on attendance. “We expect perfection,” Scott added. “We’ll settle for excellent - and now that is true for our attendance policy.”

School districts in Texas and Florida have also followed suit and implemented similar changes.

“This is a big issue,” explained Dr. Georges Benjamin, director of the American Public Health Association in Washington, D.C.“We ought to do a better of job of teaching people when it’s appropriate to stay home.”

Dr. Benjamin went on to say that children who attend school sick do not learn much and take longer to recover.

“If you’re obviously ill, you’re not going to feel well enough to pay attention,” he said.

With fears of the 2009 H1N1 fading, some schools have begun to reinstate the perfect attendance policy with some going so far as to award the student with the best record a car.

The Hillsborough County Public Schools district in Tampa, Florida has not fully reinstated its policy of allowing students with perfect attendance to skip final exams – which it ended over concerns of the 2009 flu outbreak – but the district did team up with a local Toyota dealership to award a car to a senior from the class of 2011 with perfect attendance for the second semester.

In Richmond, Indiana a similar contest was held at Northeastern High School, where the winner was offered a choice between a Ford Fiesta or a scholarship of equal value. The contest winner, Sara Berger, admitted to going to school after vomiting one morning, in order to win the contest.

“I really liked school,” she said. “I always took it very seriously. If you’re not there, you’re not going to learn.”

Berger chose the scholarship and plans to attend Purdue University.

School officials in Circleville, Ohio struck a balance between incentivizing students to not miss school and preventing the spread of disease. To encourage students with good attendance, officials worked with a used car dealer to give away a 2002 Pontiac Grand Am on the last day of school.

Instead of giving it to the student with the best record, it held a random drawing where students who missed no more than four days were automatically entered in the drawing.

“There’s no shame in missing a day,” Superintendent Kirk McMahon said. “We want what’s best for these kids - and what’s best for the entire population.”