With winter approaching, the district is taking more precautions than they did last year to prevent the students from catching any sort of sickness.

“I think they’re practicing prevention medicines,” School nurse Sally Polley said. “They’re taking action instead of waiting for the disease to spread and closing the school. I think it’s a very forward thinking.”

This year, to help protect the students from the flu, the district installed numerous new hand sanitizer lotion dispensers around FHN and all the other FHSD schools.

“I like them,” Spanish teacher Stacey Berberich said. “They’re more obvious ‘hey keep your hands clean’ type of thing and they’re more convenient.”

Students also appreciate the easy access dispensers.

“The hand sanitizer dispensers are a vital tool in our fight against disease,” junior Nick Hunkins said. “It’s really convenient that they’re right on the walls of the hallways.”

Even though the District has taken different precautions, there have already been several outbreaks of the flu this year.

“You normally see the flu at different times every year,” Stiglich said. “But this is the earliest we’ve seen it.”

If there is a severe outbreak of the flu at the schools, the district must take many steps. The district evaluates each case on an individual level and then, depending on the severity, a letter is sent out to the entire school so the employees, students, and parents can be aware.

H1N1 has struck the nation since it was first detected in April. The virus is originally thought to come from pigs; however, you cannot get infected with H1N1 virus from eating pork or pork products.

It is most common in people 25 years and younger and can infect a person for two to eight hours after being deposited on a surface.

With H1N1 so common, the FHSD district is now more concerned with the spreading of influenza, more commonly known as the flu.

A cold, runny nose and tiredness are a few symptoms of the flu. The virus is a viral infection of the respiratory tract (lungs). The flu is spread directly through coughing, sneezing, and contact with nose or throat discharges, and is most common in late fall, winter, and early spring. It affects between 10 and 20 percent of the entire population.

“Hopefully it won’t affect the district because we’re encouraging people to cover their cough and not to come to school if you have a fever,” FHSD nurse coordinator Janet Stiglich said.

If a student is showing signs of infection, they are encouraged to stay home from school until all of the symptoms have vanished. They want students to wait 48 before returning.

“[We’re] just practicing safe habits,” principal Darlene Jones said.