By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – The Alabaster City School System is looking to keep the flu and other contagious diseases from spreading rampant through its schools – as it has done in some other school districts across the southeast – according to ACS Superintendent Dr. Wayne Vickers.

On Feb. 11, Vickers gave School Board members an update on the system’s absenteeism rate and steps ACS is taking to prevent contagious diseases from spreading.

“I want to commend our staff. We have been providing Clorox wipes to the schools, and we got those out to everyone the other day,” Vickers said during the meeting. “(ACS Executive Director of Pupil Services and Operations Dr.) Jeff (Atkins) has been encouraging the custodial staff to wipe down all the touch points consistently.”

Over the past few weeks, headlines throughout the region have told of schools being forced to cancel classes or close for a few days because of the number of teachers and students out with the flu.

So far, Vickers said ACS isn’t seeing a significantly higher absenteeism rate than it normally does during this time of the year.

“We may be higher than some months, but we haven’t gone over as a system,” Vickers said. “Right now, I think we were at 6.5 percent absenteeism today, and were at 8 percent on Friday (Feb.8), and that’s really not unusual this time of year.”

Vickers encouraged parents to take their children to the doctor if they are experiencing symptoms of illness, and asked parents to keep their children at home if they are sick.

“We have a three-day weekend coming up for President’s Day, and we think that will make a big difference. Giving it some time without people in the school makes the germs kind of die out.

Even so, our attendance has been running pretty consistent with where we’ve been all along,” Vickers said. “We’re monitoring it. I just want you all as a board and a community to know that we are doing everything we can do. Right now, we’re just encouraging people that if your child is running a temperature to follow the recommendation of the doctor. If they’re sick, keep them at home. That’s the best way to avoid spreading it through the school.”