Lynchburg schools plan for two separate flu clinics

Two kinds of flu vaccination clinics are planned this fall for students in Lynchburg schools, one for seasonal flu and the other for the H1N1 swine flu.

“This flu season is going to be challenging,” said Anne Bond Gentry, coordinator of student support services, in a report to the school board Tuesday.

For the seasonal flu vaccination, a letter will be mailed to parents next week urging them to let their children receive the FluMist nasal spray at school, Gentry said.

Children under 9 will need two doses of FluMist, so a second clinic will be scheduled for them, she said.

Staff of the Central Virginia Health District will administer the vaccine for seasonal, or winter, flu. The cost will be $5 unless a student is covered by the Medicaid or Anthem insurance programs.

The H1N1 flu is a different kind of virus, and preventing it requires a vaccination that is administered by a shot, Gentry said.

The vaccine is expected to be available in late October. Gentry said that, as of Tuesday, she expected the H1N1 treatment to be free of cost.

A separate letter about the H1N1 flu-shot clinic will be sent to parents, she said.

All of the letters will encourage parents to teach and practice personal hygiene at home, including: cover your cough, wash your hands and stay home when sick.

Teachers and staff members who become ill during the day at school will be sent home, Gentry said. If students become ill, their parents will be asked to pick them up, she said.

In another development, enrollment in city schools appears to be up this year, Superintendent Paul McKendrick told the school board.

After the first week of school, the system had 8,301 students, Kendrick said. That’s an increase of 66 students over last year, schools spokeswoman Leigh Farmer said.

Both E.C. Glass and Heritage high schools had about 100 more students this year, and kindergarten enrollment at Heritage Elementary led to hiring another teacher, McKendrick said.

School officials couldn’t pin down a reason for the increases, other than construction of new homes and apartments in the Heritage attendance areas, McKendrick said.

“This is good news,” McKendrick said.

Enrollments have been falling in recent years.

The Weldon Cooper Center, which does population research at the University of Virginia, had predicted higher school enrollments for Lynchburg this year and next year, McKendrick said.

In other action at Tuesday’s school board meeting:

w Several personnel hires and resignations were reported. In one of them, Karyn Barra was assigned the role of visiting teacher at Hutcherson Early Learning Center.

Barra was placed on administrative leave last November from an assignment as principal at T.C. Miller Elementary School. Farmer said Barra had continued to be an employee of the school system.

w The board agreed to proceed with a $569,000 contract with J.E. Jamerson & Sons for improvements to Fort Hill Community School, which will house middle school alternative education programs. Jamerson’s bid was $123,000 less than school officials expected the project to cost.

w The board learned that Linkhorne and Marvin Bass elementary schools had each qualified for new $180,000 grants under the federal No Child Left Behind program. It also learned Perrymont and Dunbar elementary schools qualified to continue receiving grants totaling $200,000 under the program.