Clarkston High School

Dekalb County Schools

Resources - Public Health Concerns

Posted Friday, October 17, 2014

Dear Principals,

As you are likely aware, the United States has been experiencing a
nationwide outbreak of enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) associated with severe
respiratory illness that has been especially harmful to children. At the
same time, you and your communities may also have questions about the
Ebola virus. To address both public health concerns, the U.S.
Department of Education and our federal health partners have a number of
informational resources to share with you.

Almost all of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC)-confirmed cases this year of EV-D68 infection have been among
children. Many of the children had asthma or a history of wheezing. Many
parents continue to be worried about the outbreak and want information
about what they can do to prevent illness and protect themselves and their
families. The CDC has developed information and resources for parents
about EV-D68. Please help us to address parents’ questions and concerns
and make them aware that these resources are available.

Below are CDC resources about EV-D68 developed for parents:

· [ http://www.cdc.gov/features/evd68/ ]Web Feature, “What
Parents Need to Know About Enterovirus D68”

· [
http://www.cdc.gov/non-polio-enterovirus/downloads/EV-D68-Matte-Article.docx
]Drop-in newsletter article (matte article), “Parents: Learn the Facts
about Enterovirus D68”

· [
http://www.cdc.gov/non-polio-enterovirus/downloads/EV68-factsheet.pdf
]Fact sheet for parents, “What Parents Need to Know about Enterovirus
D68”

· [ http://www.cdc.gov/non-polio-enterovirus/about/ev-d68.html
]General questions and answers for the public

· [
http://www.cdc.gov/non-polio-enterovirus/about/EV68-infographic.html
]Infographic: Keep Your Child from Getting and Spreading Enterovirus D68

Here are just a few ideas of how you can use and share these resources:

Most importantly, work with your schools to share CDC information with
parents:

- Print and send copies of the fact sheet and/or infographic home with
children

- Email parents links to information on the CDC web site

- Post links to CDC information on schools’ social media accounts

Link to the URLs provided in the list above on your parent-facing web
pages.

Share the infographic or Web Feature with parents over social media.
Below are some sample tweets or create your own:

- Parents, CDC addresses your questions & concerns w/ new educational
materials about EV-D68. [ http://1.usa.gov/1o92Sdx
]http://1.usa.gov/1o92Sdx

- Concerned about #enterovirus? Here’s what you need to know about
EV-D68 & respiratory illness. [ http://1.usa.gov/1sC9Jfc
]http://1.usa.gov/1sC9Jfc

- Parents, follow these steps to protect kids, esp those w/ asthma, from
EV-D68 & other viruses that cause respiratory illness. [
http://go.usa.gov/VyzA ]http://go.usa.gov/VyzA

Syndicate content from the CDC web site. CDC encourages organizations to
mirror CDC’s web text through content syndication rather than copy text
onto their web sites. Benefits include immediate and automatic updates
whenever any changes are made on the CDC site and ensures all content is
consistent and current across the Internet. If you’d like to include
EV-D68 Web content without having to monitor and copy updates, visit [
http://tools.cdc.gov/syndication ]Content Syndication for the free
one-time setup instructions. Enterovirus D68 is listed under
“Syndication Topics.”

Place the text of the matte article on your web site or in e-newsletters
and other publications you have that reach parents.

Work with local child care facilities and organizations in your area to
share CDC information with parents:

- Ask child care centers to place the drop-in article in parent
newsletters

- Ask child care centers to print and post the fact sheet and/or
infographic

Encourage parents and community partners to share the fact sheet with
doctor’s offices, clinics, faith communities, and other community
settings.

Yesterday, the CDC issued a [
http://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2014/p1014-test-enterovirus-D68.html ]
press release sharing news about a new lab test developed by CDC for
EV-D68 which will allow more rapid testing of specimens. Because of this
new test, confirmed cases of EV-D68 will appear to rise rapidly over the
next 7-10 days as specimen testing accelerates. However, changes in case
counts won’t represent a real-time influx of new cases.

Remember too, as entrovirus season is expected to taper off, flu activity
usually begins to increase in October. While there is not a vaccine to
prevent illness from enteroviruses, the single best way to protect
against the flu is to get vaccinated each year. Many resources for
parents and others can be found on the [
http://www.cdc.gov/flu/freeresources/index.htm ]CDC flu web site. CDC
recommends that ALL children 6 months old or older get a flu vaccine.

Finally, we know your communities may also have questions about what
schools can do to keep students and adults safe from the Ebola virus. The
President has made control of Ebola a top national security priority, and
we as a nation have spent more than $100 million fighting this outbreak
since the first cases were reported last March in Africa. Our national
health system has the capacity and expertise to quickly detect and contain
this disease and is working with states and school districts to ensure the
safety of our students and school employees. As you likely know, the CDC
is continually updating its information on Ebola, information that can be
found here: [ http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/index.html
]http://www.cdc.gov/vhf/ebola/index.html.

Our Department’s Office of Safe and Healthy Students has a number of
materials available regarding Readiness and Emergency Management of
Schools in crisis situations, and those materials can be found here: [
http://rems.ed.gov/ ]http://rems.ed.gov/. One resource at this web link
is steps the Dallas Independent School District (DISD) has taken to keep
parents and community partners continually updated on the Ebola situation
there, including establishing a web site: [
http://www.dallasisd.org/healthupdates
]http://www.dallasisd.org/healthupdates.

Additional materials developed by the DISD Communications Team included
there are:
[
https://www.nspra.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=7996&qid=463280
]All Staff Notice about Ebola
[
https://www.nspra.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=7997&qid=463280
]Parent Letter — English
[
https://www.nspra.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=7998&qid=463280
]Parent Letter — Spanish
[
https://www.nspra.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=8000&qid=463280
]Ebola FAQ
[
https://www.nspra.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=8001&qid=463280
]Talking with Children about Ebola
[
https://www.nspra.org/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=8002&qid=463280
]Recognizing and Reducing Signs of Anxiety in Times of Crisis

We sincerely hope that you find these materials beneficial and that you
will share them through all of your available networks and communication
vehicles.

Thank you.

The National Public Engagement Team
The State and Local Public Engagement Team
U.S. Department of Education

Dr. Alice A. Thompson
Deputy Superintendent
School Leadership and Operational Support
DeKalb County School District
1701 Mountain Industrial Blvd.
Stone Mountain, GA 30083
Office: 678-676-2843
Fax: 678-676-0535