This semester, sickness has invaded the halls of our school and impacting almost every family. In a recent survey conducted by the Bulldogger we discovered that almost 75 percent of the 142 students and staff who responded, said they have gotten sick during this semester. School nurse Jackie Allison says that the past few weeks, she has seen a significant increase in ill students, and not just kids that are faking it. “It’s not a classroom avoidance thing, it’s that these kids are really sick,” said Allison.

37.5 % of students and staff that responded to our survey missed two or more days of school.

Very few families have been able to escape the spread of these illnesses. 84 percent of students have had a family member sick in their household this year. And yet only about half of those students have stayed home from school during this semester. Meaning that there are at least a third of kids coming to school with sickness or sickness spreading through their family. Why not just stay home and avoid passing on the sickness?

61.7 % of those who responded needed medication to get over their illness.

This year the school has been making an active effort through stricter tardy policies and new opportunities like second breakfast, to improve attendance. As few as five absences can result in parents receiving a truancy letter from the school threatening court action. So instead of dealing with that, a significant amount of students are cutting the recovery process short and coming back to school only partially healthy. “A lot of times the kids who are really sick and running a fever are not [at the nurse’s office] because they want to go home. They are usually here because they just want something to make them feel better, and they want to stay,” said Allison.