As Montrose students sit down for lunch, they're pretty excited for their French toast. But the only thing on their mind in September was the flu. At the peak, 55 of the district's 215 students were sick.
"It’s a little happier place to be. A little less coughing, sore throats and sneezing and everything else. Today, we only have one student gone," Superintendent Dean Kueter said.
Although the number of illnesses is down dramatically, the school is still doing everything it can to keep the students healthy. That includes plenty of hand sanitizer all around the school.
"We're still doing a lot of disinfecting, the hand sanitizers and hand washing. We want to keep it this way," Kueter said. Kueter had hoped to improve the district's chances of keeping healthy with an H1N1 vaccination clinic at some point in mid-November. But with that time quickly approaching and no word yet on vaccines, they'll keep doing what they can to fight off the flu.
"You know, we're positive thinkers around here. I think we've got to think that way and hope that maybe it was come and gone through Montrose. Are we going to face a second wave? We probably might," Kueter said.
But for now, the district and its students are glad to be back to full strength.
Administrators in Montrose had discussed that the only way the district would close the school is if too many teachers were sick at one time. At its worst, just three teachers were sick on the same day.
