These kids care about their health and the health of all their classmates. They protested, got suspended, got press, and MADE A DIFFERENCE! Now their school will be cleaned and even the other schools in their district. Good for them! (The part about their protest is at the end of the article in bold.)
Entire school system to be scrubbed after superbug case
PIKEVILLE, Kentucky (AP) — An eastern Kentucky school district with one confirmed case of antibiotic-resistant staph infection plans to shut down all 23 of its schools Monday, affecting about 10,300 students, to disinfect the facilities.
Workers clean a classroom in Chicago, Illinois. Staph infections have spread recently through several schools.
The project will involve disinfecting classrooms, restrooms, cafeterias, hallways, locker rooms, buses and even external areas such as playgrounds and sports fields, said Roger Wagner, superintendent of Pike County schools.
“We’re not closing schools because there’s been a large number of breakouts, but as a preventive measure,” Wagner said.
One Pike County student was diagnosed with in September with MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. The bacterial strain can be treated with other antibiotics, but without treatment it can be deadly.
The bacteria was blamed for the death of a 17-year-old Virginia high school senior and a 12-year-old New York City middle school student this month.
At least seven students on New York’s Long Island were recently diagnosed with MRSA, as were 10 members of an athletic team at Iona College in New Rochelle, New York.
However, a government report has estimated it may sicken more than 90,000 Americans each year.
Two weeks ago, students staged a sit-in at the lunch room of Pike Central High School in effort to get school officials to clean the school as protection against the bacteria.
Most abandoned the sit-in after Principal David Rowe threatened them with a three-day suspension, but 33 stayed and were given the choice of one day of in-school suspension or two days out-of-school suspension.
Three chose out-of-school suspension.
Political Teen Tidbits 
October 27, 2007 at 9:01 pm
great story for those HS students.
good on them!
seen “Lanier H.S. reports staph case“?
October 27, 2007 at 9:39 pm
Student advocacy! Alright!
October 29, 2007 at 8:10 pm
wow as a former student of Pike County Central High School i think its great that these kids really stand up for what they believe in..
Ya see the old saying is true..
Small town people can be recognized just as well as Big City FOLKS
November 25, 2007 at 12:56 am
From what I understand you cant “disinfect” a school, the bacteria does not last long on other surfaces, it likes to be near food….skin and blood.
look at the MRSA report at http://www.alkavitahealth.com. Prevention could also be diet! Yup, diet.
Most of our major health issues can be resolved by eating the right foods to make our bodies more alkaline. Not easy, certainly not convenient, but it is the ONLY answer. We foolishly give up our saving and our houses for treatments that we don’t need. All we had to give up was bad food. If you cant pronounce the ingredients, do not put it in your body. Google “acid and alkaline foods” really.
The answer to better health is just under your nose. Alkalinity is a barrier to most bacteria. The body fights it better and it grab a foot hold cause there wont be enough food(acid) to sustain it. Something to look into.