H1N1 Question

I was asked today by a parent about what we are doing at Cokato Elementary to help prevent the spread of viruses, whether they are H1N1 or other communicable diseases. Good question! Teachers are encouraging students to wash their hands thoroughly after using the restroom, before eating, after blowing their nose, etc. Actually, those are times we have always emphasized good hand washing! The lunch room has a hand sanitizer near the milk cooler that children are also encouraged to use before they pick up their trays. The good news is that these viruses have a short life! The viruses do not survive over night so they are not lingering into the next day. That's good!
Our attendance is constantly being monitored by our nurse and superintendent. We don't foresee closing school for illness. The experience we've had so far this fall is that students are able to come back to school in about 5 days, some longer if the fever persists. In the meantime, keep encouraging your children to wash their hands often just as we are doing so at school. Stay healthy!

Does Cokato Elementary have Parent Advisory meetings scheduled?

Parents who are familiar with Cokato Elementary may wonder what happened to Parent Advisory meetings? I conducted a survey last year and found that people are very interested in what we do, but respondants said there were not enough days in a week to fit in another obligation! We decided to join forces with the D-C PTA with the hope that parents would be able to attend their monthly meetings and learn more about the district instead of only the elementary schools. Would you like to have meetings at Cokato Elementary on topics relevant only to us? If so, let me know, and I'll set up a date or two this year.

Picking up children at dismissal

Parents,
I have a safety issue that I'd like to call to your attention. Yesterday when it was so rainy, many of you picked up your children and came into the Parent Waiting Area to walk them to your car. That is the exactly right! Several parents waited in their parked cars and "motioned" their children to cross the street to get into the car. Some cars were double parked as well! That created a huge safety problem because the kids crossed in the middle of the street in busy traffic. We would really appreicate it if parents would park their vehicle and come into the school. The bus loading and unloading is going very well on the south side. I don't want to create a traffic hazard on the north side now! Thank you very much for helping us out!
Lorene