Bob Nesladek, principal at Prairie Grove Elementary in Crystal Lake, began surveying the casualties by mid-morning, quickly realizing that Monday would rank as one of the lowest attendance days in recent memory.
By noon, 66 of 900 students had failed to show or had been ordered home to recoup from any number of ailments–from the sniffles to vomiting to high fevers–that have been stinging schools throughout northwest Cook County and pockets of McHenry and Lake Counties since early last week.
On Monday, the toll continued to climb, sometimes dramatically so, as school officials from Arlington Heights to Crystal Lake recorded absentee rates more than double the daily average.
At Collins Elementary in Schaumburg, for example, the absentees leaped from an average of 15 to 59 by early afternoon. At Prairie Grove Elementary, a quarter of the first grade was absent.
“Three kids have already gone home, and we have two in the nurse’s office waiting for their parents,” bemoaned Collins secretary Chris Luboweski.
Similar scenes played out across the region, including in East Maine District 63, where daily attendance dropped to about 90 percent, from an average of 96 to 97 percent.
“After the winter break and up until mid-January, we were running very normal,” said District 63 Supt. Robert Varga. “In the last five days, the bottom fell out.”
Health officials were unable to immediately explain the sudden rise in sick calls from parents, though Kent Taylor, a spokesman for the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, noted that Illinois is among 19 states experiencing an unusually high number of flu outbreaks this winter.
The Cook County Department of Public Health’s regular survey of suburban hospitals and schools, which it uses to pinpoint any trends or outbreaks in the schools, is due out Tuesday. The department’s latest figures, which show normal absentee rates at area schools, is dated Jan. 17, just prior to the seeming outbreak that has gripped schools across Chicago’s suburbs.
Still, it was unmistakable Monday that some twist on the flu virus had gripped the area’s schools. At the North Suburban Clinic in Hoffman Estates, for example, pediatrics department supervisor Tina Pellegrini described an “unbelievable” deluge of calls jamming the phone lines Monday.
“We’ve gotten literally hundreds of calls today,” said Pellegrini, holding a stack of some two dozen phone messages from concerned parents. “This is twice as many calls as usual. We try to fit in everyone who needs to see a doctor, but unless it’s a bacterial infection, there’s no medication for the flu.”
Without an exact diagnosis, schools were mostly left to urge caution.
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At Olive-Mary Stitt Elementary in Arlington Heights, where nearly 8 percent of the students were home ill Monday, principal Linda Burkhard simply reminded children to take extra care while washing their hands.
Others appealed to the parents. “They’re sending the kids back too soon,” said Barb Pagano, a health clerk at North Elementary School in District 47, where at least 80 of 720 students were out Monday after a week of 100-plus daily absences. “So, we’re really trying to emphasize to them to keep the children home–please, this stuff is serious.”
Varga took a similar approach in District 63, reminding students to mind their hygiene and urging parents to do the same.
“We’re probably breeding our own contagion in the schools,” Varga said. “So we’re doing all we can to keep parents apprised.”
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