TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Freedom-Liberty campus quiet after suspected swine flu case

ADVERTISEMENT

By KENNETH KNIGHT | The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 4, 2009

TAMPA PALMS - The Freedom High-Liberty Middle schools campus is a ghost town today as school district officials grapple with a suspected case of swine flu among the student body.

The schools, which share at a campus on Commerce Park Boulevard in Tampa Palms, are closed for the week because a student there is among five probable cases of the contagious disease in Hillsborough County.

Metal gates at the entrances to both schools are locked today. The only sign of life is a Hillsborough County School District security guard parked at Freedom High to keep students and visitors away.

News reporters and photographers will be allowed on campus at 1 p.m. for a briefing on the school cleaning protocol being implemented today.

School district custodians will meet with Chastain-Skillman Inc. representatives before starting the cleaning, according to district officials. Chastain-Skillman employs professionals who are board certified or have advanced degrees in industrial hygiene, public health or engineering.

The schools will be cleaned according to recommendations from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The cleaning will focus on common areas and places students are likely to touch, such as desks, stair railings and doors.

There are no plans yet to clean the buses serving the schools, school officials said.

Students at Freedom High will miss Advanced Placement tests. The school district is making arrangements to reschedule those exams.

The school will not compete in the Class 3A state track and field championships Friday in Winter Haven despite qualifying in the girls 4x100- and 4x800-meter relays and the girls pole vault event.

Other schools in New Tampa are opened today. At nearby Wharton High, the parking lots are full and school activities are under way as usual.

Reporter Kenneth Knight can be reached at (813) 731-3612.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT