The scene was routine for reporters, but unusual to say the least for a group of parents who gathered outside an intermediate school in East Elmhurst last week. We were awaiting the start of a “flu press conference” featuring local politicians and the President of the United Federation of teachers.
I asked, “With the long holiday weekend, why not close the schools now, extending a long holiday weekend?” Some parents yelled out, “Yeah what about that?” Odd, having your questions cheered on, but there was no applause for the answer. Randi Weingarten said in so many words that working parents can’t take off on a moments notice.
That’s one reason the city is so reluctant to close schools during a snowstorm. But even this past March, a blizzard did close the schools, for the first time in five years. And the spread of the flu seems to trump a snow emergency. “It’s all nonsense, smoke and mirrors,” Lorraine Kosner, another parent, told me. “School is not a babysitter. When schools are closed, parents have to be able to make arrangements.” Someone at the press conference had put up an easel for a sign, which held a map of the five boroughs. Blue dots indicated where the flu had struck. Queens was covered in blue dots. “You see those dots?” Marie Dopantes-Dougherty said to me. “If they were in Manhattan, the schools would be closed!” Many other parents here feel the same way, that the elite Manhattan-school parents who have the ear of the billionaire mayor would be treated differently.
But the New York City Health Commissioner says that simply closing schools has little payoff, and could even make things worse. “Only one in 10 schools with suspected outbreaks turns out to have them,” says Dr. Thomas Frieden.
Mayor Bloomberg says absenteeism can’t be tied to school closings, since many kids are fine but parents are keeping kids home. But with teachers calling out sick too, it’s hard to imagine too much learning is getting done.
The mayor has done a fine job getting the best and the brightest people to handle the situation. (Frieden has already been tapped to head the CDC.) But like many doctors, the mayor does lack a “bedside manner,” and as some parents have told, has a tin ear to complaints about the way he does business.
The city has been more responsive as of late, putting increased information on its web sites. However, not surprisingly, fear is still spreading faster than the flu.
Friedan says summer may be the antidote. “As warm weather approaches, we hope to see less influenza,” he says. And then, in ‘hope for the best’ fashion, he adds, “Do that kids can go back to being kids and parents can get back to enjoying the pleasures of life.”
But the best advice comes from Michael (don’t call me Marcus Welby) Bloomberg, who reassured New Yorkers that, if you’re going to get the flu, swine is the way to go! “It so far seems to be a milder flu!” Hizzoner says. I feel better already!
–Dbfox5news@aol.com.
