Flu season is in full swing at Woodgrove High School, coinciding with the second semester getting well under way and the amount and difficulty of school work increasing. Missing one day of school can result in students falling behind in their work, and it can be hard to get back on track. Additionally, Loudoun County Public Schools has updated their attendance policy.
Earlier this year, LCPS changed their attendance policy to combat “chronic absenteeism”, which is defined as missing over 10 percent of the school year. Both excused and unexcused absences count towards chronic absenteeism. A recent change to this policy counts family trips towards unexcused absences as well. If a student misses five days of school, contact is made between parents and guidance counselors. “We’ve increased our communication, we’re documenting things a little better, but we are making sure that if there [are] any barriers to the student’s education, we are helping to remove them like we have always done,” said Ms. Geri Fiore, the Director of School Counseling at Woodgrove.
During this time of year, there is an increase in absences due to flu, COVID-19, or other illnesses. Mrs. Stephanie Lovasz, the school nurse, explains, “We follow CDC guidelines for all illnesses. We are post-COVID, but still see COVID-19 cases this time of year.” She shared her motto for their approach to student health, “well students learn better.” She explained that when a student feels healthy and is up to par, they have a longer attention span, get better sleep, and interact with their friends more.
Sending students home is a case-by-case situation, however if a student has a 100.4 degree Fahrenheit fever or higher, then they are sent home. Students cannot return to school until they have been fever free for 24 hours. Whether students are sick or want to avoid being sick, Lovasz advises “adequate sleep, proper hydration, good hygiene, nutritional diet, and exercising.” She also explained that students should avoid sharing food or drink and educate themselves on signs and symptoms of illnesses as preventative measures.
“When those symptoms start brewing, that is when students may need to pause for a day or two just to see what [the symptoms are] going to turn into,” said Fiore.
However, testing season is fast approaching, and that means that the volume of work assigned to students is increasing. Missing just one day of school can mean falling behind, and it can be hard to recover. Senior Michaela Driscoll stated she hates missing school due to the possibility of falling behind, and her strategy to make sure she stays caught up with her assignments is “usually emailing my teachers the day I was sick or the day following… then look on Schoology to see what I missed.” According to Ms. Fiore, the counseling office’s recommendation is to focus on getting healthy and getting back to school before stressing. “We can help work with the teachers to kind of fill in some of the holes, to try to reduce some of the anxiety,” said Fiore.
Students’ health and wellbeing are most important. Even if the thought of missing school work piling up is daunting, it is important for students to put their own health first and stay home if they feel sick.
