On any given day, about 95 percent of the approximately 10,000 students in our school district are present. The absence rate tends to stay fairly steady, so it’s easy to notice when there’s a change in it.

Just recently that absence rate did jump for a few days before coming back to normal, as a round of colds and flu swept through. It hit two schools particularly hard ­– the Middle School, and the Kindergarten Center. Curiously, it affected the morning session at the Kindergarten Center noticeably more than the afternoon session, when a different group of students arrives.

We don’t expect a child who’s sick to come to school, of course. But our district policy does require that the parent send a note explaining the cause for the absence. With the proper documentation, the missed day can be recorded as an “excused absence.” (That is the policy for kindergarten through eighth grade. It’s different for high-schoolers, who can lose course credits if they’re absent more than seven times in a semester, either excused or unexcused.)

Having an “excused absence” is important for several reasons. First, it means the reason for the absence was one of the approved situations for missing school. Illness is the most obvious one, but there are others, such as a death in the family or the observance of a religious holiday.

Also, and this may surprise you, it can affect the district’s finances. A percentage of our school district’s funding is provided by the state government. A key factor in that funding is our attendance. The state measures our attendance, but only twice each year. These are known by school administrators as “count weeks.” One of them is in February, and if the count is low that particular week, it could affect our funding. But a student who is out with an excused absence still counts as part of the district’s enrollment.

What’s most important, though, is for students to be in school on a consistent basis because that is a key to academic success. Christine Skolnik, our nursing unit leader, says there are several practices that can help students stay healthy and ready to come to school feeling well and prepared to learn.

Flus and colds are both caused by viruses. But they’re spread by coughing and touch, and students (and adults) can take several preventive measures. Washing hands with soap and water is key. Covering coughs and sneezes will also help.

Skolnik also says that students should try to get fresh air, exercise, plenty of rest, and eat properly, not just when they’re sick, but all the time. Being in good health when a bug hits helps a student recover more quickly.

We’ve never had to close our district’s schools, at least in my memory, because of an outbreak of some type of illness. Skolnik says an extreme measure like that would only work if the closure were for an extended period of time, until the illness had run its full course among all the affected individuals. In other words, we wouldn’t be taking just a day or two off until people felt a little better.

I certainly hope we never have to face that decision. Just deciding whether to call off school for snow is hard enough!

Published in the Fairfield Echo, Feb. 21, 2008