At the end of every summer, schools across the country tidy up their classrooms, meet with teachers and review curriculums in preparation for the start of the semester. This year, they’re adding another item to their common checklists: planning for an outbreak of swine flu.

In Westbrook, Superintendent Reza Namin said the plan for an outbreak has been written and so has the procedure for keeping the school community informed. The department is implementing a new emergency outreach program called ConnectED, which will allow for instant communication with parents, students and the staff.

“Our focus at Westbrook School Department is about changing the norm and

behavior that regardless of any pandemic will be more proactive,” said Namin.

Starting last spring, he said, Westbrook schools have been taking preventative measures, such as making sure students and staff are regularly washing their hands and covering coughs and sneezes. The administration has been monitoring student absences and checking in daily with school nurses.

Schools are hotbeds for the proliferation of the H1N1 virus, not only because of the extended time kids spend in a small classroom together, but also because this particular virus has an appetite for the young.

“Whereas the typical seasonal flu will largely affect the elderly and infants, this flu has mostly affected young people,” said David Connerty-Marin, director of communications at the Maine Department of Education. “More than half of the people affected are under the age of 24, and more than three-fourths are under the age of 50,” he said. “So this is definitely unusual.”

“We know that pregnant women, children, young adults and health care workers are more likely to get H1N1,” said Dr. Dora Anne Mills, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control. “Right now (the epidemic) is still mild, but it could worsen.”

That’s particularly true as students return to school in September.

As a precaution, 200,000 H1N1 vaccines are expected to arrive in Maine by mid-October, said Mills, enough to cover half of all Maine’s students, and will be offered and administered at schools to students displaying symptoms of H1N1 (see sidebar for common symptoms), free of charge. The vaccines, including needles and syringes, will be paid for with federal funds, Mills said. She does not anticipate the vaccine becoming mandatory.

Mills said that though Maine has been lucky so far in terms of numbers, it is too soon to predict the end result. “We are prepared for a marathon,” she said. “I don’t know how many miles we are into it, but I suspect we are early.”

The coping strategy in the event that there is a major H1N1 outbreak within the public K-12 school system is shifting slightly, Mills said. Whereas last spring the protocol was to completely close a school at the first confirmed case, schools may soon follow a tiered system that employs less drastic measures. This plan would perhaps send just the students in the affected classroom home to recover rather than the entire school. The new guidelines on action plans for schools are expected to be handed down by the Center for Disease Control in the near future.

Whatever those plans are, Gorham schools will be ready to implement them, said school Committee Chariman Dennis Libby.

“We’re following guidelines of the Maine Center for Disease control,” Libby said Wednesday. In addition, information will be posted on the school department’s Web site, and nurses will be readily available to answer any questions parents might have.

Mills commented that summer camps have acted as a barometer for what can be expected in the fall, and have provided an opportunity to practice the kind of prevention, detection and treatment protocol to be employed at schools.

“Camps have done an excellent job. They prepared by trying to prevent,” Mills said, adding that they employed “little reminders like having hand sanitizers and tissues around, which prompt people to exhibit excellent respiratory care.”

Counselors and kids who were at high risk were identified early and then closely monitored through regular temperature checks and constant “How are you feeling?” check-ins, Mills said. Those displaying symptoms were instantly isolated on cots provided by local health agencies, and treated with Tamiflu, an antiviral medication.

Hawkins and many of his peers will attend a statewide summit on H1N1 preparedness at the Augusta Civic Center on Aug. 20 to communicate directly with the state Center for Disease Control and other health professionals as well as coordinate and share knowledge and coping strategies with superintendents from other counties. More than 600 health professionals, superintendents, teachers and community leaders, among others, have registered to attend. The event is open to the public and tickets cost $15.

“We need to be in a position where whatever comes our way, we know how to respond to a moving target,” Connerty-Marin said. “The more folks we can get on board with a common plan, the better off we are.”

Mills says she is hoping for the best but planning for the worst. “You never know how prepared you are for it until it happens,” she said.

For more information on the Augusta summit this month, visit http://www.maine.gov/dhhs/boh/h1n1-summit.html.

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