Wilmington parents upset NHC schools arent warning about H1N1 cases

Cindy White took her sixth grade son Justin out of Noble Middle School when she found out two of his classmates had swine flu. She is upset because the school didn’t tell her.

“I just think that we should have been alerted, and what they’re doing is hiding it,” White said.

She said her son has a weak immune system and a family history of autoimmune disease. “I don’t really want to get sick or anything because this can kill you,” she said.

Robin Thompson said she, her husband, and her eighth grade son at Noble have all been sick with flu symptoms recently. “I asked my son when he was sick, ‘have a lot of kids been out sick” and he told me in one class they had seven kids in one day that was out,” Thompson said.

The New Hanover County School Board said they are not required to inform parents when students get H1N1.

“We are following the guidelines set forth by the New Hanover County Health Department who are in turn following the guidelines set forth by the CDC,” said New Hanover County assistant superintendent Rick Holliday. “Whatever the health department instructs us to do, we will do in a public health emergency.”

Dr. Holliday said the school board has held three public forums for parents in which the health department discussed H1N1. He said informing parents of students with H1N1 violates child privacy laws. Complicating matters, the New Hanover County Health Department is currently out of the H1N1 vaccine.

Cindy White has taken her son Justin out of school. He is on the waiting list to get the H1N1 vaccination but she said until he gets it, he will not be returning to Noble Middle School.

White found out about the students with H1N1 because her son was texting the students to find out why they missed class.

The New Hanover County Health Department believes they will be getting in more shipments of the H1N1 vaccine from the CDC in the next week.