Metro School District Reconsiders Attendance Policy Over H1N1

A metro school district is considering changing their attendance policy because of the H1N1 virus.

Friday, September 25th 2009, 8:18 pm

By: News 9


By Jacqueline Sit, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- A metro school district is considering changing their attendance policy because of the H1N1 virus.

Schools officials at Edmond North High School said they have noticed a drop in attendance recently. And while the school has raised concerns over the H1N1 Flu virus spreading, sick students have raised concerns about missing class.

"We had quite a few parents who were concerned about our exemption policy because kids were wanting to come to school sick so that they wouldn't have to miss out on their test exemptions, and we've had this policy in place for several years," said Brenda Lyons, Edmond Public Schools.

Now the administration has asked the school board to double the number of absences that would still allow a student to be eligible for a test exemption. For seniors in their second semester, their absences allowed depend on their grades.

"Staying home when you're sick and not making other people sick is important. And parents still are that first line of defense for us. They don't need to send the kids to school sick, and if their kids are sick, test exemption or not, they need to keep them home," Lyons said.

Lyons said there's no cause for alarm, but they want to try to keep their students flu free this season.

"We're just doing our part to try to help people not be so worried about things and have a safe environment for our students," Lyons said.

Lyons said she expects the board will be supportive of the recommendation. They're scheduled to vote on the issue October 5th.

Oklahoma City, Putnam City, Millwood and Mid-Del Public School officials said the districts don't have any plans to change their attendance policies.

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