Buffalo River School Closed To Prevent H1N1 Spread

Buffalo River School Closed To Prevent H1N1 Spread

Friday, November 06, 2009 at 12:21

A northern school administrator says that while cancelling classes for more than two weeks might seem “extreme”, he feels it was the best choice to protect his students from the H1N1 flu virus.

Lance Bhyette is the principal of the Buffalo River Dene Nation School in northwest Saskatchewan, which has been closed since the week before Halloween — around the time local children started showing flu symptoms.

Bhyette decided on the two-and-a-half-week closure after being told the flu vaccine administered to his students would take that long to take effect.

He says Buffalo River band members have been very supportive of the school’s efforts, both to educate their children about preventing illlness, and to protect them from the further spread of disease.

While the school has been closed, Bhyette’s staff have thoroughly scrubbed and sanitized everything from desks and floors, to toys in the kindergarten classroom, in order to be ready when students return on November 11.