FWISD CLARIFIES FLU-RELATED ABSENCES
Fort Worth, Texas - Most Fort Worth ISD students returned to school on Friday, May 8th, ending an unplanned six day hiatus brought on by concerns over the H1N1 Influenza virus.
While we are pleased that classrooms are again busy places of learning, we understand that many parents made arrangements with out of town relatives to care for children. An absence today will be an excused absence as long as parents send a note verifying this was the case.
We continue to urge caution and ask parents to be vigilant in not sending a child to school that has flu symptoms. A recap of those symptoms can be found on the District Web site, www.fwisd.org. Generally the symptoms include body aches, fever, coughing, sneezing, vomiting and diarrhea. Any child who has flu symptoms should be kept at home for seven days. These will be excused absence as long as the child returns with a doctor’s note.
“If someone has the symptoms, we hope that they will seek help from a health care professional,” said Melody Johnson, FWISD superintendent. “If they get professional help they will benefit and it will assist in tracking the flu cases.”
FWISD Board of Education policy outlines acceptable forms of documentation for excusing absences as:
1. Health care documentation; or
2. A note from a parent approved by the principal or administrative designee.
Documentation shall be submitted to the appropriate school personnel within seven calendar days of the student’s return. After seven calendar days the student must file an appeal to the attendance committee for consideration.
-FWISD-