Absenteeism up at school after swine flu death
Thursday, September 17th, 2009 4,508 viewsGARLAND — Absenteeism was up slightly at Price Elementary School in Garland on Tuesday after a student died of swine flu over the weekend.
Cynthia Garcia, 11, did not have underlying medical conditions, but she did have pneumonia and a bacterial infection, which appeared to follow the swine flu infection.
Around a dozen parents kept children with flu-like symptoms home from Price Elementary on Tuesday. While the school is located in Garland, it is part of the Mesquite ISD.
Parents who did take their children to school said they were happy with the way the district handled the situation.
The school was disinfected on Sunday. On Monday, counselors went class to class, informing students about Garcia’s death.
Stefanie Alexander, who has a daughter in third grade and son in kindergarten, said she was impressed with the kindergarten teacher, who made sure students drank from bottles of water so they don’t use the drinking fountains.
Daren Watkins said his daughter was concerned about coming into school today. She said she was sad about what had happened to her classmate.
