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Friday, May 1, 2009

Snoutbreak Madrona Elementary Students Banned From Community Centers

Posted by Jonah Spangenthal-Lee on Fri, May 1, 2009 at 12:41 PM

The King County Health Department has ordered Seattle community centers to bar Madrona K-8 students—although it's not clear that students from Aki Kurose and Stevens Elementary are also banned—from attending after-school programs and day camps at the centers.

Community centers around the city have posted signs on their front doors notifying Madrona students that they aren't welcome. Unfortunately, about 70% of students at Madrona and Aki Kurose are on free and reduced lunch, which will likely put parents in the uncomfortable position of having to decide whether to skip work and stay home with their kids, when people are already worried about losing their jobs in our bad economy. One staff member, who asked not to be identified, at the Garfield Community Center says the center has already had to turn away a number of families. "There's been some frustration there," the staff member says.

In the last 24 hours, city and county officials and staff at the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) have been discussing the possibility of opening up several community centers around the city to act as daycares for kids displaced by sudden closures. However, it appears that someone realized that putting all of the kids from these schools into one place would defeat the purpose of the closures, and the plan has been put on hold. "We looked at all the options and determined it’s really not the best course of action," says EOC spokeswoman Lori Patrick.

Parks department staff are still expecting an influx of students at community centers—which could make the Madrona student ban tough to enforce— and are working will the health department to monitor increased attendance and spot potentially sick kids.

UPDATE: The city now says they're not "turning children away" from facilities, but are not allowing students from shuttered schools into licensed childcare programs after community centers.

From my experience working in childcare, licensed programs tend to completely take over community centers after school. If kids from quarantined schools aren't allowed near the kids in after school programs, it would seem that they'd be pretty much have to be excluded from the facility. I'm still trying to nail this down and I'll have more in a bit.

Comments (17) RSS

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What, they're going to hunt them down with nets?

I can see keeping them from pools, but unless they do ID checks, how can you tell where they're from?

Posted by Will in Seattle on May 1, 2009 at 12:46 PM

Why can't they go home and play video games for hours like normal kids?

Posted by Fnarf on May 1, 2009 at 12:51 PM

Yay, panic!

Posted by pox on May 1, 2009 at 12:51 PM

Given that the virus in this case is no worse than any other flu, if the health department really wanted to control flu outbreaks they would close the school district during February each year, the peak month for flu.

The chlorine in the pool probably does more to protect anyone than anything.

This is pretty much pure hysterics.

Posted by Simac on May 1, 2009 at 12:52 PM

run run run for your lives !!!!

Posted by reverend dr dj riz on May 1, 2009 at 12:53 PM

@2 Because if they aren't in school they're being recruited by gangs. They routinely have to kick out gang recruiters from middle schools in Seattle.

Posted by pragmatic on May 1, 2009 at 12:53 PM

Flu outbreaks are almost as hard to manage as a half inch of snow.

Posted by Seattle is the most retarded spot on the globe on May 1, 2009 at 12:55 PM

Can we have an option in the next Slog swine flu poll for "Getting Pissed Off by Hype"?

I knew the fucking second that the superintendent started talking about exploring whether the kid would have to make up days they shut down the school, since it's a "health emergency" that they'll just shut down for weeks.

Posted by grrr on May 1, 2009 at 12:57 PM

And it looks like Unintended Consequences takes this round.

Posted by Greg on May 1, 2009 at 12:59 PM

This flu thing is getting dull now.

Let's, instead, accuse these children of being witches and burn them.

Posted by Ackham on May 1, 2009 at 1:06 PM

If they are witches, they're made of wood.

And if they're made of wood, they float!

Posted by Swine Flu Mob on May 1, 2009 at 1:37 PM

The first time a child burst into flames as I was holding it underwater, I was a might surprised.

I had to strap the rodent to a board to keep him underwater without me getting any more hand-scars. Little bastard.

Found out where the fucker kept his money tho...

Posted by mrbanana on May 1, 2009 at 1:51 PM

What parents are doing is bringing them to work!! (at least in my office!).

Posted by ifeelachy on May 1, 2009 at 2:04 PM

The kids on free & reduced lunches aren't only missing school, they're missing meals. Many of these families can't afford to miss work (if they have it) or make up the meals that these kids usually get at school. So the kids are going to be hungry--and their systems will be weaker.

I get that that the school officials are trying to, essentially, quarantine the kids. Only without, you know, quarantining them. It makes no sense.

I don't get the point of barring these groups of kids from public gathering places like community centers.

If they were a serious health threat, they'd be confined to their homes. The parents aren't going to voluntarily confine kids who appear healthy in this weather.

Either they're a public health risk (have to stay away from grocery stores, clinics, public transit, um...everywhere public) or they're not.

Am I missing something?

Posted by MJ on May 1, 2009 at 2:42 PM

I work for one of the school districts (not Seattle) that's closed schools. Our administration is so bright, they're holding mandatory staff meetings to explain social distancing. So, for me, what this means is, instead of staying in my cube by myself, well away from sick people, as I normally would, I have to go sit in a too-small room with 30 people, several of whom are sick to have my idiot manager explain to me how I should stay away from people during the flu.

Posted by AdministrativeMaroons on May 1, 2009 at 3:37 PM