This morning Chicago Public Schools officials welcomed students back to Joyce Kilmer Elementary School in the Rogers Park neighborhood.
Kilmer was the first school in the state to close last week after a 12-year-old female student contracted the H1N1 virus and was hospitalized.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acknowledges that the H1N1 flu outbreak does not appear to be any more serious than seasonal flu, and schools should stay open and only consider closing if there is a large cluster of infections.
CDC officials also say several schools and parents had complained of the hardships of closing schools.
I spoke to the parent of a 5th grader this morning who said closing Kilmer for five days was a big mistake that only helped spread fear in the school’s community. What do you think? Did school officials do the right thing or did they have a knee-jerk reaction to H1N1?
