WOODBURY- In the months of December, January, and February students miss school more than ever. Illness and icy roads stop students from getting to school on time or not at all.
The roads might seem like they are good enough to drive your normal speed in, but there actually is a layer of ice underneath the snow that isn’t visible. This added variable adds time to student commutes–and tardies to their attendance log.
Some of the student drivers don’t have good enough cars to drive in the snow or ice, so they decide to just stay home.
“Some people don’t have good tires; some people have older cars; and for some people it isn’t safe enough for them to be driving,” says NHS senior, Brynn Clampett.
The winter weather doesn’t just create dangerous driving conditions, but also causes illnesses to spread faster.
Illnesses like colds and the flu spread quicker in cold dry air and stay in the air for longer. This is compounded by the long days indoors where students are in close contact.
According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) there are 200 strains of the cold. This explains why people get about two versions of the cold virus a year.
Being able to get two types of the cold virus and other types of illnesses cause students to have to miss school.
As of right now at Nonnewaug High School the absenteeism rate is 5.67% according to NHS Vice Principal Declan Curtin.
Being the one who deals with student attendance, Curtin can say there is a trend of tardies and absences in the winter months.
“It is true that in December and January across the state of CT there is a spike of the flu which has increased the numbers throughout the state of CT,” said Curtin. “And whenever families get together like they do over the holidays there’s always a spike in absences.”
After the holidays there was an increased rate of students being absent. When students are absent from school, whether or not it is after the holiday, it creates a disadvantage.
In the classes they are missing students could be learning a new unit or missing a test. Missing either of these is important because you will be missing the start of learning something new, or needing to skip another class to make up the test.
Along with missing material in classes, students also get a lot of extra homework. Most students are already busy with work or sports after-school. Adding extra homework to everything that already is scheduled for after-school.
There are also people who go to school for the morning and then get sent home by the nurse and miss the rest of the day.
NHS school nurse Sandy Snabaitis says, “I would say we dismiss about 5 to 10 students a day for illness.”
With that range there could be about 115 to 230 kids leaving school because of illness every month.
“We don’t have any certain outbreak right now. I know there have been a few people diagnosed with the flu, we did have a few students with the stomach bug, but it was a few here and there” Snabaitis said. “I generally see someone who has an upper respiratory infection that we send home, a GI maybe a few times a week, or sometimes your general cold and sore throat.”
There are many illnesses being spread around during the winter that cause students to miss school even if it is for half a day.
“Illness peaks around January and February because of the colder weather and people are indoors,” Snabaitis said. “Germs are spread more easily through coughing or direct contact.”
