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 2009
State of the Schools Address
Watch Dr. Nancy Sebring's 2009 State of the Schools Address.
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The first issue of the district’s newsletter,
the DMPS Community Report,
appeared in the summer of 2008. The newsletter is published three
times a year, once each semester and in the summer. The newsletter
is a great way to let DMPS parents, students and the community get
more in-depth news about what’s happening in our schools.
Since that first issue,
the district has experienced back-to-back across-the-board budget
cuts. The fall semester DMPS Community
Report, which will be out next month,
will be the last copy of the newsletter to be printed and mailed to
homes. To help the district save money, beginning in spring 2010,
the DMPS Community Report
will only be available electronically.
If you would like to
receive an e-mail with a link to the electronic newsletter when it
is available, please
SUBSCRIBE.
(If you use a Web mail interface like Google or Yahoo to subscribe,
please be sure the word “Subscribe” appears in the subject line of
your e-mail message before you hit Send. Also, if you subscribe
before Nov. 6, you will receive the next issue of the newsletter
electronically, not a paper copy.)
H1N1 Update
Since the beginning of the 2009-2010 school year
the district has been engaged in the practice of daily illness
surveillance in our schools. As predicted in August, our district,
like many others, experienced a period of increased illness the
first part of October that was caused by a variety of illnesses,
including the H1N1 virus. But, also as expected, illness trends have
returned to levels typically seen for this time of the school year.
The symptoms and severity of H1N1 are very similar to what is
typically seen with seasonal influenza, thus the district continues
to follow health department recommendations in taking the same
precautions that were implemented last spring. As you may have heard
or read in recent months, we anticipate the rate of illness in
schools will continue to cycle up and down throughout the upcoming
flu season.
Our primary goal is to protect the health of our
students, families, faculty and staff. The increase in illness this
fall allowed the district and the Polk County Health Department to
assess our illness control plans and found them to be effective in
containing and controlling the spread of illness within our schools.
We continue to work closely on a daily basis in partnership with the
PCHD to monitor illness trends and to follow the CDC guidance with
regard to monitoring, cleaning, social distancing, etc. If the
course of the illness should change creating a need to implement
additional measures or change our practices in any way we will
notify you right away. So far, that has not been necessary.
We commend our parents
for heeding the advice of the health department in keeping their
children at home when they have been ill and in maintaining them at
home until they have been fever free for 24 hours without benefit of
fever reducing medication. THANK YOU! Other
steps we suggest you take are to teach and practice good hand
washing and cough hygiene practices. During this period of relative
calm in illness rates, parents are encouraged to develop contingency
plans (if they have not already done so) for caring for their
children in the event they become ill and need to stay home for a
longer period of time. Because people who are pregnant or have
pre-existing illnesses are more likely to experience complications
from H1N1, it is recommended they consult their doctors about
additional preventative measures they can take to remain well this
flu season.
Des Moines Public Schools continues to partner
with the PCHD to offer opportunities for people to become vaccinated
against the flu. Currently free H1N1 vaccinations are available to
eligible people* on a walk-in basis at:
Moore Elementary
3725 52nd
Street, Des Moines
Clinic Hours:
Monday through Friday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
* People eligible to be vaccinated include:
- Pregnant women;
- People who live with or care for
children younger than 6 months of age;
- Health care and emergency medical
services personnel with direct patient care contact diagnosing
and treating patients with flu-like illness or direct contact
with patients at high risk of influenza;
- Children 6 months through 4 years of
age;
- People ages 5 through 64 years of
age who have chronic medical conditions, such as asthma,
diabetes, lung or heart disease, chronic liver or kidney
disease, or are immune-compromised because of cancer treatment
or HIV;
- Children under the age of 10 who have
already received their initial H1N1 vaccination.
For
more information about H1N1 or seasonal flu visit
www.polkcountyiowa.gov/health.
Specific questions about the
H1N1 virus or the vaccine can be directed to (515) 323-5330.
Thank you for your cooperation. We will continue
to communicate our efforts throughout the influenza season.
FAQs About H1N1 and Seasonal Flu
Flu Symptoms and Preventive Action Steps
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