Especially for Parents

KANSAS SCHOOL SAFETY HOTLINE

The 1999 Kansas Legislature has appropriated funds to assist the State Department of Education, in cooperation with the Kansas Highway Patrol, in establishing a school safety hotline. This hotline is a toll free number available 24 hours per day, 365 days per year to give students, parents, and community members the opportunity to report any impending school violence. As you are aware, students usually have knowledge of potential school violence before it occurs. This hotline would give students the opportunity to anonymously report any potential violence.

The Kansas School Safety Hotline Number is 1-877-626-8203

Personnel at the Salina Central Dispatch of the Kansas Highway Patrol will answer the hotline number. The dispatchers will get as much information about each situation reported as the caller wishes to relay. Upon receipt of a call, the dispatchers will notify appropriate law enforcement agencies and/or the office of the superintendent of schools depending upon the severity of the situation.

If you have questions concerning the Hotline, please contact:

Dale M. Dennis, Deputy, Commissioner of Education
120 East Tenth Street, Topeka, Kansas 66612-1182
Telephone: (785) 296-3871 / FAX: (785) 296-0459
E-mail: ddennis@ksde.org

Good Health Habits

While the Ebola virus is making all of the headlines, we also know that Type A flu and Enterovirus D68 are expected to be a concern this fall and winter. The district has been informed by health professionals that there have been two confirmed cases of Type A flu this season and school nurses are seeing symptoms consistent with the D68 virus.

The district wants to remind parents and students to practice basic to practice good health habits and precautions in the weeks and months ahead:

• Wash hands often with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand rub.
• Avoid touching the eyes, nose, or mouth. Germs spread this way.
• Try to avoid close contact with sick people.
• Get plenty of sleep and exercise; drink plenty of fluids; and eat healthy food.
• Cover the nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
• If you or your child is sick with flu-like illness, stay home or keep your child home for at least 24 hours after fever is gone without the use of fever-reducing medicine.

Get a flu shot. While it will not protect you from Ebola, it will protect you from the more common strains of flu viruses. Because Ebola symptoms mimic flu symptoms, the protection of a flu shot can reduce the fears that likely will be present when flu symptoms start to appear.

Follow these links for more health information:

• Web Feature, “What Parents Need to Know About Enterovirus D68”

• Fact sheet for parents, “What Parents Need to Know about Enterovirus D68”

• Infographic: Keep Your Child from Getting and Spreading Enterovirus D68

• Centers for Disease Control
• Kansas Department of Health and Environment