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Howell Public Schools take the
health and safety of their students very seriously. HPS provides safety in many ways; security cameras,
on-site security staff, crossing guards, visitor sign-in at all schools and crisis management & response teams.
In addition HPS offers Parent/Student workshops and volunteer committees on a variety of health and safety issues. We hope
this page will provide important information for HPS students and their families. Please continue to scroll down for all the
information from the Parents Internet Safety Presentation .
Updated 10/22/09
H1N1 Vaccination Campaign
HOWELL,
Michigan (October 22, 2009) (Livingston County Department of Public Health) The overall plan for vaccination of Livingston
County residents for H1N1 Influenza is a public/private partnership. Livingston County Department of Public Health (LCDPH)
is groups and allocating vaccine to the many private medical providers that have priority group patients.
Earlier
this fall, CDC informed us that 45 million doses were expected nationwide by mid- October. In a meeting late Tuesday, October
20th, we were informed that vaccine distribution will be significantly delayed. The number of doses of H1N1 vaccine we anticipated
may be less and may not arrive until mid-November at the earliest. Livingston County was allocated 98,000 doses of H1N1 Influenza
vaccine based on population. We have received orders from County medical providers for 78,690 doses of H1N1 vaccine. As of
today, we have been able to place orders with the CDC for only 7700 doses of vaccine. We have received and distributed 1900
doses of H1N1 vaccine in multi-dose vials and 1800 doses of the Live Attenuated H1N1 Influenza vaccine (intranasal). All of
that vaccine has been distributed to medical providers who see the highest risk patients. We are expecting another
2200
doses of injectable vaccine and 1800 doses of intranasal vaccine later this week or early next week. When the vaccine is received
it will be distributed to thirty-eight (38) private providers. This does not include any to the retail pharmacies at this
time.
Our goal has been to assure the small amount of vaccine we had available is administered to those persons
most at risk for serious complications from H1N1 Influenza. Until sufficient vaccine is available, we will not be able to
schedule community clinics. School located clinics have been planned but are based on vaccine availability. We will keep school
superintendents updated weekly about the status of vaccine received in order to judge if we will have sufficient quantities
to conduct these clinics as planned.
We appreciate the cooperation we have received from our many partners in the
community. Unfortunately, vaccine supply is beyond our control and is not just affecting Livingston County but also the state
and the entire country.
CONTACT:
Donald W. Lawrenchuk, MD, MPH
Medical Director
Livingston County
Department of Public Health
(517) 546-9850
dlawrenchuk@co.livingston.mi.us
www.lchd.org
Important Information from Howell Public
Schools Regarding Seasonal
and H1N1 Flu Please be advised and assured that Howell Public Schools' administrators have met multipl times with Livingston County
Health Department (LCHD) officials. As we begin to experience both seasonal flu and the newer H1N1 variety of viruses, we
will be following all protocols of the LCHD. In November, we will be sponsoring free vaccination
clinics at secondary school sites. Given somewhat limited vaccine production, at this time the LCHD clinics on our sites will
be limited to serve students in grades 6-12 with prior, written parent permission. We hope to make available limited after-school
clinics to serve the larger population in the targeted age groups, and for those having underlying medical conditions that
affect risk. Should more H1N1 vaccine become available, we will endeavor to extend our clinic times/locations, subject to
LCHD guidelines. Expect to receive considerable public information from the LCHD in the coming
weeks. We will continually update the District's website, providing helpful links for your information. In the meantime, I
would like to highlight the following: 1. H1N1 is in our community and has been throughout the
summer. However, the symptoms of H1N1 are virtually indistinguishable from those of seasonal flu. Signs to watch for in particular
include high fever, cough and rapid onset. 2. We have always required that ill children and youth
be kept home from school. This expectation will be even more critical this year. Children who become ill while at school will
be isolated. Parents should take time now to review their children's emergency contacts to facilitate quick pick-up of students
who fall ill. Students who are assigned to isolation
Howell Public Schools areas might not have H1N1, but they may well
be exposed to others who are thus infected Prompt parent pick-up will help to prevent transmission of the more serious diseases. 3. Medical experts advise that vaccination against seasonal flu is more important this year than ever before. The
schools will not be able to provide these vaccinations, but families are encouraged to seek vaccination through family physicians
or at community sites. 4. Our building administrators rate our custodial services as "excellent."
The company already uses the chemical formulations that are required to combat these viruses. 5.
The level of understanding of H1N1 by our medical community is far advanced now, in comparison to last spring when the LCHD
was recommending school closures. We will not be closing schools unless the rate of student/staff absenteeism becomes so excessive
as to warrant a determination that public safety requires such closures. That determination will be made only after careful
consultation with the LCHD medical director or his assignee 6. What follows are the A, B, C's
of H1N1 prevention:
A. Children who are ill must remain at home,
minimally for 24 hours after a fever has broken, and at least 24 hours after the cessation of all medicines
that might have
suppressed symptoms. B. Social distancing and good hygiene are known to prevent
up to 90% of communicable diseases. Youngsters are notoriously non-compliant with the basics of frequent
and thorough hand-washing. Please teach them and remind them to use hot water and soap
for a full minute. C.
Coughing and sneezing, where unavoidable, should be done into the inner aspect of the elbow to prevent
airborne transmissions.
We will continue to update our website. In the meantime, I encourage
you to check the Health Department website frequently: www.lchd.org.
Yours in good health
and great education,
Lynn D. Parrish
Interim Superintendent
Internet
Safety Information Every Parent Should Know
Presented
by: Deputy Nick Williamson
#385 Livingston County
Sheriff Department " The Internet is like a knife. It can be very useful,
but it can also cut you if you're not careful..."
What is the Internet?
- Known as the "Information Superhighway"
- The Internet
is NOT the World Wide Web
- The world
Wide Web is a system of sharing information over the Internet
- The Internet is a
network of networks
- It Consists of millions of smaller domestic, academic, business and government
networks, which together carry various information and services i.e. E-mail, chat and resources of the World Wide Web.
How do we get connected?
- Home,
office or work Computer
- A laptop via a wireless(WiFi)connection
- Library
Computer
- Cell Phone (i.e. Apple iPhone)
- PDA (Blackberry)
- X-Box, Playstation, Nintendo Wii
- iPod
Teen Internet
21st Century Citizens
- Now entering
cyberspace, 1,022,863,307 and growing...
- Approximately 50 million teens have Internet access.
They've never known life without it!
Teen Internet Use Patterns
- Grades 3-4: Most students are Internet users
- Grades 5-12: Almost all students are online
- By 6th Grade: More than 1/2 of students
have email accounts
- By 7th Grade: Majority of students use chat rooms & Instant Messaging
Parent-Child Digital Divide
- Children
believe they have better Internet skills than their parents
- 61% of children surveyed in
grades 5-8 believe this.
- 81% of children surveyed in 9-12 believe this.
- Parental controls are easily circumvented! This includes circumventing filters and other similar software.
- Parents overestimate what they know about their children's online activities
- Almost
all parents say that they've established Internet use rules, but many students disagree.
- 24%
(9-12 graders) 20% (5-8graders) are not comfortable going to parents if "IN
TROUBLE" online!
- Parents appear to be oblivious to their children's risky online
behavior.
How big of a problem is child sexual exploitation?
- Statistics show that 1 in 5 girls and 1 in10 boys are sexually exploited by the time they reach
the age of 14.
- Less than 35% of those child sexual assaults are reported to authorities.
Teen Girls Are Most At Risk
- Teen girls are the most frequent victims of sexual assault
- 30%
of teen girls polled said they've been sexually harassed in a chat room
- Only 7% told
their parents
Most Encounters Go Unreported
- Only 1% of online sexual solicitations are reported to police
- Only 12% of sexual solicitations
are reported to a parent or teacher
Instant Messaging/Chat Rooms
- Instant Messaging (often abbreviated simply to IM) is the
text exchange between two or more people online outside a chat room.
- Chat rooms provide a means
of communicating by sending text messages to people in the same chat room in real time.
- Chat
rooms are often categorized by location, interests, age, etc.
- AIM
- Yahoo! Messenger
- Google Messenger
- MySpace Messenger
- ICQ
- IRC
Internet Acronyms Every parent Should
Know!
- ALS - Age, Sex,Location
- SorG - Straight or Gay
- POS - Parents over shoulder
- PIR - Parents in room
- P911
- Parent Alert!
- PAW - Parents are watching
- TD2M - Talk dirty to me
- IWSN - I want sex now
- LMIRL - Let's meet in real life
- NIFOC - Nude in front of computer
- GYPO - Get your pants off
- WYCM - Will you call me?
- KFU
- Kisses for you
Blogs
- Short for web log
- Can include graphics, pictures, etc.
- Online
diary/journal
- except everyone has access to it
- The
activity of updating a blog is "Blogging" and someone who keeps a blog is a "Blogger"
- Very Popular!!!
"Social Networking" Sites
- MySpace
- Facebook
- Yahoo!
360
- Flickr
- YouTube
- Photobucket
- Bebo
- Friendster
It's all about me!
- 61% of 13 to 17 year olds have a personal profile on sites such as MySpace,
Facebook, Friendster or Xanga -NCMEC, May 2006
The Risk Of Meeting Offline
- Asssult - sexual, physical
- Abduction - Kidnapping
- Robbery
- Disease - STD's
- Pregnancy
- People pretending to be who they're not
What Can
You Do?
If your child ever tells you
about someone wanting to meet offline, find out as much about the situation as possible.- i.e
subject's name, screename, e-mail address
- SAVE al e-mails, IM's, chat logs, text messages,images
etc.
- Record exact date and time of incident
- NEVER try an conduct
your own computer forensics
- Report this incident to the NCMEC at www.cybertipline.com
- Contact you local police if you feel you or your child is in imminent danger
- DO NOT DELETE THE EVIDENCE!
- Discuss the dangers of the
Internet with your child
- Encourage your child to discuss their online experiences
- Be sure they understand they should NEVER give out personal
information such as:
- Full Name
- Address
- Phone Number
- E-mail address
- School they attend
- If someone says or does something suspicious,BLOCK THEM from
your child's contact list an and don't respond.
Cyber Bullying is...
- Being cruel or mean to others by sending or posting harmful and/or hurtful material using technological
means such as the Internet or Text Messaging.
- Also known as: "Electronic Bullying"
& "Online Social Cruelty"
Cyber Bullies' Technology
- E-mail
- Cell Phones
- Text
Messaging
- Defamatory web-sites
- Chat rooms
Cyber Bullying Types
- "Cyber Stalking": Repeatedly sending messages that include threats
of harm or are highly intimidating. Engaging in other online activities that make a person afraid for his/her own safety.
- "Denigration": Dissing: someone online. Sending
or posting cruel gossip or rumors about a person to damage his/her reputation.
- "Outing and Trickery": Sharing someone's secret or embarrassing information
online. Tricking someone into revealing secrets or embarrassing information which is then shares online.
- "Exclusion": Intentionally excluding someone from
an online group, like a "buddy list"
Cyber Bullying Prevalence
- 90% of middle school students polled have had their feelings hurt online
- 65% of students between the ages of 8-14 years of age have been involved directly or indirectly in a cyber bullying
incident as the cyber bully, victim, or friend.
- 50% have seen or heard of a website bashing
of another student
- 40% have had their password stolen and changed by a bully (locking them out
of their own account) or sent communications posing as them.
Cyber Bullying Legal Issues
- Criminal law limits the following kind of speech
- Making threats
of violence to people or their property
- Making obscene, annoying or harassing phone calls
- Harassment or stalking
- Hate or Bias crimes
- Creating or
sending sexually explicit photos of teens
- Engaging in this type of activity or speech could
lead to being arrested and prosecuted!
Who May Get Involved?
- Principal
- Superintendent
- Resource Officer/Police
- Parents
- Courts
- Internet Service Provider
School Limits:
- Cyber bullying may not only be illegal, but also may violate school policies.
- Could lead to detention, suspension or expulsion.
Set Rules, Communicate, Stay Informed
- Establish which sites your
children can surf, who they can communicate with and where the computer will be located.
- Discuss
importance of telling you or a trusted adult if something EVER make them feel uncomfortable or scared online.
- Don't expect to know things if you don't do your homework
- Learn the lingo
- Have your children show you sites they visit
Strong Passwords
- Passwords are the keys you use to access personal
information that you've stored on your computer an in your online accounts.
- What makes a
strong password?
- Make it lengthy (14 characters or longer s ideal)
- Combine letters, numbers and symbols)
- Make it CaSe SensItIVe
- AVOID
using Birthday's, pet's names, children's names
- Tpw4tci2s4U2g!- build from a phrase
that a user camn memorize: "The password for (4) this computer is too (2) strong for you to (4U2) guess!"
- Check out site blocking, parental filters or monitoring software- if necessary
- Spector
Pro- eBlaster
- Net Nanny
What Are We Doing? Internet Crimes Against
Children Task Force
- Michigan
State Police
- Livingston County Sheriff Department
- FBI
- US Secret Service
- US Postal Inspectors
- Dept. of Justice
- Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
Remember
- Report any suspicious online activity to NCMEC@ www.cybertipline.com
- If someone says
something suspicious BLOCK THEM and don't respond
- Save any creepy,threatening or harassing e-mails and all images sent to your child.
- Encourage
your child to be good online citizens and not to do anything that hurts other people or is against the law!
Available Resources
- www.cybertipline.com
- www.netsmartz.org
- www.stopcyberbullying.org
Contact Information:
- Deputy Nick Williamson #385
- Voice- (517)
333-4117
- Cell- (517) 403-5739
- Fax- (517) 336-2025
- e-mail NWilliamson@co.livingston.mi.us
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