Custodian John Tibbetts disinfects lockers at Lewis S. Mills High School.
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BURLINGTON -
It was a bright, crystal-clear Thursday afternoon near the center of town, and there was something wrong with this picture.
There, in the parking lot of the Burlington Commons between the CVS pharmacy and the liquor store, Aaron Steinberg and five of his friends from Lewis S. Mills High School were listening to rapper Lupe Fiasco blaring from their iPod speakers and pulling wheelies and 360-degree turns on their BMX bikes.
Burlington, like two other towns in Connecticut, was forced to close its schools this week because up to one-third of its students were sick with the flu, and Steinberg's bike meet with his friends was just another way that residents were coping.
"OK, well, basically, the teachers told us on Tuesday afternoon when they closed the schools not to spend a lot of time with our friends so nobody gets infected with the flu," Steinberg said, taking a swig from a large bottle of Mountain Dew that he was sharing with his friends. "But nobody is listening to that. It's just another five-day vacation for us and it's really great being with my friends."
Welcome to Flu-Town, USA. In a year when experts are beginning to worry that the simultaneous spread of both the seasonal flu and the H1N1 flu might reach epidemic levels throughout the country, towns like Burlington are becoming unwitting prototypes of everything that can go wrong, or right, after a town shuts its largest single institution — its schools.
On Tuesday, when Region 10 Superintendent Alan Beitman shut down schools for Burlington and Harwinton students for the rest of the week, an elaborate protocol established by the local health districts was set in motion to check the spread of the flu. To break the "cycle" of contagion, as Beitman put it, the town was also canceling all extra-curricular activities, including afternoon sports, all parks and recreation activities, town meetings and library events.
It seems that the first casualty of this health planning is the idled students themselves, most of whom say they are too bored staying at home all day to observe the health precautions laid down by their elders.
"My mom wanted to take this seriously and keep me home all day," said Dan Kablick, a junior at Lewis Mills High who had joined his friends at Burlington Commons. "But I won the argument by telling her that if I wasn't sick by now, I wasn't going to get the flu. So I came here to be with my friends."
Other students are proud of the way they have coped. Josh Lomnicky, a Lewis Mills sophomore who had also joined his friends with his BMX bike, is the oldest of three in a family led by a single working father, a toolmaker who works in Bristol. He had been called on to help his father this week.
"OK, so it's a little boring because I have to watch my younger brother and sister in the morning until my grandmother gets to the house," Lomnicky said. "But it's good because my dad has to work to pay the bills and I like the fact that I've helped him out."
Local politics has also been affected, just a week before the November elections. Burlington has a lively first selectman's race between incumbent Kathleen Zabel and Republican challenger Cathy Bergstrom, who were scheduled to debate at town hall on Wednesday night and then participate in a meet-the-candidates event at the Burlington Public Library on Thursday night. Both events were canceled to observe the health protocols about avoiding spreading the flu.
"It's really a shame because we really pack the hall for these candidate nights and more than 150 voters usually come," said library Director Marie Spratlin Hasskarl. "Candidate night at the library makes you feel like the town is really alive. It's a big hit for us not to hold the event."
Like many of its prosperous suburban neighboring towns, Burlington offers an ambitious fall parks and recreation program, around which families set their schedules. Almost 1,000 students and adults participate in everything from travel soccer to body toning classes. But those, too, have all become casualties of Burlington's Flu Week.
"In my tenure here, we have occasionally had to cancel parks and recreation events because of severe weather, but never on a beautiful day like this," said Burlington parks and recreation Director JoAnn McBrien. "Basically, what we've learned in Burlington this week is that if you close the school, you close down the whole town."
[Correction: A previous version of this story included an anecdote that was based on incorrect information. The anecdote was about Burlington resident Robert Senk, who had identified himself as a physics and astronomy teacher at South Windsor High School. In fact, Senk no longer works at the school.]
There, in the parking lot of the Burlington Commons between the CVS pharmacy and the liquor store, Aaron Steinberg and five of his friends from Lewis S. Mills High School were listening to rapper Lupe Fiasco blaring from their iPod speakers and pulling wheelies and 360-degree turns on their BMX bikes.
Burlington, like two other towns in Connecticut, was forced to close its schools this week because up to one-third of its students were sick with the flu, and Steinberg's bike meet with his friends was just another way that residents were coping.
"OK, well, basically, the teachers told us on Tuesday afternoon when they closed the schools not to spend a lot of time with our friends so nobody gets infected with the flu," Steinberg said, taking a swig from a large bottle of Mountain Dew that he was sharing with his friends. "But nobody is listening to that. It's just another five-day vacation for us and it's really great being with my friends."
Welcome to Flu-Town, USA. In a year when experts are beginning to worry that the simultaneous spread of both the seasonal flu and the H1N1 flu might reach epidemic levels throughout the country, towns like Burlington are becoming unwitting prototypes of everything that can go wrong, or right, after a town shuts its largest single institution — its schools.
On Tuesday, when Region 10 Superintendent Alan Beitman shut down schools for Burlington and Harwinton students for the rest of the week, an elaborate protocol established by the local health districts was set in motion to check the spread of the flu. To break the "cycle" of contagion, as Beitman put it, the town was also canceling all extra-curricular activities, including afternoon sports, all parks and recreation activities, town meetings and library events.
It seems that the first casualty of this health planning is the idled students themselves, most of whom say they are too bored staying at home all day to observe the health precautions laid down by their elders.
"My mom wanted to take this seriously and keep me home all day," said Dan Kablick, a junior at Lewis Mills High who had joined his friends at Burlington Commons. "But I won the argument by telling her that if I wasn't sick by now, I wasn't going to get the flu. So I came here to be with my friends."
Other students are proud of the way they have coped. Josh Lomnicky, a Lewis Mills sophomore who had also joined his friends with his BMX bike, is the oldest of three in a family led by a single working father, a toolmaker who works in Bristol. He had been called on to help his father this week.
"OK, so it's a little boring because I have to watch my younger brother and sister in the morning until my grandmother gets to the house," Lomnicky said. "But it's good because my dad has to work to pay the bills and I like the fact that I've helped him out."
Local politics has also been affected, just a week before the November elections. Burlington has a lively first selectman's race between incumbent Kathleen Zabel and Republican challenger Cathy Bergstrom, who were scheduled to debate at town hall on Wednesday night and then participate in a meet-the-candidates event at the Burlington Public Library on Thursday night. Both events were canceled to observe the health protocols about avoiding spreading the flu.
"It's really a shame because we really pack the hall for these candidate nights and more than 150 voters usually come," said library Director Marie Spratlin Hasskarl. "Candidate night at the library makes you feel like the town is really alive. It's a big hit for us not to hold the event."
Like many of its prosperous suburban neighboring towns, Burlington offers an ambitious fall parks and recreation program, around which families set their schedules. Almost 1,000 students and adults participate in everything from travel soccer to body toning classes. But those, too, have all become casualties of Burlington's Flu Week.
"In my tenure here, we have occasionally had to cancel parks and recreation events because of severe weather, but never on a beautiful day like this," said Burlington parks and recreation Director JoAnn McBrien. "Basically, what we've learned in Burlington this week is that if you close the school, you close down the whole town."
[Correction: A previous version of this story included an anecdote that was based on incorrect information. The anecdote was about Burlington resident Robert Senk, who had identified himself as a physics and astronomy teacher at South Windsor High School. In fact, Senk no longer works at the school.]
