Below is a letter from the Director of Black Forest Academy who wrote to the parents of the students informing them of our current situation. It's quite long, but worth the read. I find parts of it quite humorous... (bold added)
Dear Parents,
I thought I would give you a report on how things are going at BFA rightnow. The big news that has us all talking is the sickness that is running through our schools and dorms. There is some kind of cold/fluthat is hitting us hard right now. This is not surprising for a schoollike ours after a break. Sometimes there are germs and bugs that comefrom exotic places and then, because we are a boarding school, can sweepthrough and hit a number of us (including me). Naturally, we are watching this carefully and doing all we can to help our students andstaff get through this season.This problem is mainly at the high school and middle school. For themoment, the elementary school has been spared the high absenteeism thatwe are seeing at the main campus. This morning there were 60 students absent. Yesterday I went on our PA system and reminded the
students, whowere there, of several things. I encouraged them to use common senseduring this season. I told them to be sure to dress properly for winter,to get plenty of rest, drink lots of fluids, eat their fruits andvegetables, wash their hands often, cover their sneezes and coughs, anddo not share their meals with friends (yes, this happens more often thanyou might imagine). We are a close community and so I even suggested that, rather than passing out hugs this
week, they should show theirlove by waving to their friends until this bug passes. You could help us by reinforcing these things with your kids.I also encouraged the students to be considerate of others and stay home if they weren't feeling well. There is a lot of pressure, especially at the high school level, to meet academic deadlines, take the scheduled tests, and hand in assignments on time. This feeling is compounded right now as grades are closing with the end of the semester tomorrow, Friday,18 January. I tried to emphasize this point and tell the students thatthe teachers can work with them to make up assignments and get those grades in later if they are absent. Parents of boarders, if you talk to your kids, please reinforce this with your child for me. Home parents, please help your older child think through whether or not they are wellenough to come to school. This morning I talked to one dorm student whowas absent yesterday due to sickness. She admitted she was still notfeeling well this morning, but came in to take an exam today. She insisted that she just HAD to take the test today. No, she didn't have to. It could easily be made up later. Yes, I let her stay
(I'm a nice guy), but I also gently scolded her and let her know that she should not be here.So, we would appreciate your prayers for us. After thinking it through carefully, we canceled small groups and Chrysalis last night and encouraged everyone to take it easy and get some extra rest. There are a number of staff members who also down with this thing - teachers anddorm staff alike. I want to quickly add that those staff members andstudents who ARE up and around are doing well and happy to be at school.Many of these students stop me on campus and ask, "Mr. Shuman, when areyou going to cancel school? You really ought to cancel school!" This isusually followed by some really nice sounding, but fake, coughing andsniffling, a sad look, and hands pressed together in a pleading motion. I get great entertainment from this. Once they find their voices again they usually go on to ask me about various percentage scenarios like,"If there were X-number of students left in the school, would you cancel THEN?" It reminds of the Old Testament conversation between Abraham andGod when Abraham kept asking would God destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if there were only X righteous people left in the city? So, thisinterchange always brings me a smile as I watch these kids go on and ongetting ever more creative with their arguments. Finally, I assure them that, "We are watching the situation; no, we have no plans to close the school and please don't be late to your drama class - you must
begetting an "A"".I am not so certain if these requests from healthy student to cancel school come from a genuine heart of concern or if it is more about getting a day off. Either way, I want to assure you and them that we are taking this seriously and we are watching the situation. Every day Italk with our on-staff physician, Dr. Parsons, and our nurses. We think things will peak sometime tomorrow or over the weekend and then weshould see the absences go down. We do not have plans to close the school, but hey, if it gets worse, we'll see.
Thank you for your prayers and your interest in life here at BFA.
Tim Shuman
Director
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