Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

NORTH PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The schools superintendent has sought special permission to let Greystone School end its school year on Thursday, June 18 after 176 days -- four days short of the minimum -- due to the recent school's closure over swine flu concerns.

The school will reopen Monday following a closing that district officials ordered on Monday, June 8, after officials learned that three students had come down with the H1N1 flu virus, according to schools Supt. Donna Ottaviano.

The Rhode Island Department of Health had tested a sample of students on June 5, and the department was closely monitoring the situation, but state health officials did not recommend closing the facility, Ottaviano said.

She ordered the four-day closing after consulting members of the School Committee, she said.

"The reason we did that was out of an abundance of caution," she added.
On the day the closing was ordered, about 85 of 298 students were absent due to illness or other issues, Ottaviano said.

Since then, information gathered by the school's nurse suggests that three more students have also come down with the H1N1 flu, but those cases have not been confirmed with state health officials, Ottaviano said.

District officials opted to call off school for a four-day period in advance of the weekend, knowing the incubation period for the flu is six to seven days, Ottaviano said.

"People thought it might be good to just close Tuesday through Friday," she said.

Before the closure, the cash-strapped school district had already shortened the school year from 182 days to 180 days as part of a cost-saving agreement with the teachers union.

Under Rhode Island law, the state's education commissioner, Peter McWalters, can grant waivers of the 180-day requirement if he finds students have missed school days due to an emergency, Ottaviano said.

McWalters has already granted such waivers for students in North Kingstown and Narragansett, where schools have been closed temporarily due to the flu, said Elliot Krieger, a spokesman for the state Department of Education.

Governor Carcieri ordered the closing of North Kingstown High School in April.
McWalters can let students miss the time, but force teachers to make up the days and spend the hours on professional development activities, Krieger said. "He'll have to look at that and see how he wants to deal with it," said Krieger, who doubted that the commissioner would second-guess Ottaviano's judgment of the situation as an emergency.

"It's a matter of best remediation for the students," Krieger said.

Learn more about swine flu in Rhode Island, and globally, from the state Department of Health

http://www.health.state.ri.us/pandemicflu/swineflu/swineflu.php

 Tags  North Providence school closed swine flu

Leave a comment

Please be civil. Vicious comments, personal attacks and profanity won't be published. Name and email are required; email address will not publish.

Name:

Email:

URL:  

Remember personal info?

Captcha:

Type the characters you see in the picture above.