No students or staff were injured as the result of a small, smoldering heating unit fire that occurred just after 9 a.m. Tuesday in a classroom at Brentmoor Elementary.

Students in Mr. Marks' second grade class were immediately evacuated from the room once the teacher noticed smoke coming from the unit located by the classroom's window.

The Mentor Fire Department responded immediately and no additional classrooms were evacuated. The fiire caused no damage beyond the heating unit. The cause of the fire is being attributed to an overheating motor.

Mr. Marks' class has been relocated to another classroom and instruction has resumed.

Parents with any questions or concerns may call Bill Porter, Director of K-8 Education, at (440) 974-5208 or Jen Skulski, Supervisor of Buildings and Grounds, at (440) 974-5224.

Mentor Public Schools and many school districts in the region and across the country have experienced a high student and staff absence rate this fall due to respiratory illness, most likely influenza. The absence rate district-wide stood at 5.17 percent on Thursday, Nov. 5, which is a typical absence rate for this time of year.

The Lake County General Health District and Ohio Department of Health are reporting that influenza is widespread in the area, and Mentor Public Schools has received several reports from parents whose children are suspected of having the 2009 H1N1 virus.

We would like to continue to encourage parents to follow guidelines published by the health district and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, which encourage parents to keep students at home for at least 24 hours after fever has subsided without the use of fever-reducing medicine such as Tylenol.

Other ways to help mitigate the spread of germs, according to the CDC, include:

Mentor High School's boys and girls cross country teams will compete in Saturday's state finals at Scioto Downs in Columbus. It's the first time in 10 years that both teams have qualified for the state meet in the same season.

DOWNLOAD INFO PACKET & CONSENT FORM

Dear Parents & Guardians:

As you may have heard, a new influenza virus called 2009 H1N1 was first identified in the United States in late April 2009. The virus has caused illness ranging from mild to severe, including hospitalizations and deaths in adults and children. Many children have gotten the 2009 H1N1 infection and there have been large outbreaks in some schools across the country. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Preventions (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices has recommended that children and young adults aged six months through 24 years be vaccinated against 2009 H1N1 as soon as the vaccine is available. Other groups recommended to get the first doses of 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine are:

• Pregnant women
• People who live with or care for children younger than six months of age
• Health care and emergency medical services workers
• People ages 25 through 64 years who have certain health conditions such as HIV, diabetes, or heart or lung disease

The Lake County General Health District is working with Mentor Public Schools to provide the 2009 H1N1 influenza vaccine to children at school. The health department will hold vaccination clinics in our schools beginning this fall, and we will let you know the specific dates of these clinics once the vaccine is on hand. Children less than 10 years of age are expected to need two doses of vaccine spaced about four weeks apart. There will be no cost to you or the school district for this vaccine, and participation in the vaccination clinics is strictly voluntary.

The 2009 H1N1 Vaccination Parent Consent Packets have been distributed to every student in the district. If you did not receive a packet, you can download the packet here. Parents and guardians are asked to read the packet and return one consent form for every student by Monday, Oct. 26, 2009. This is necessary to help determine the number of vaccines that the health department will need to have on hand for the in-school vaccination clinics. The signed consent form is required before any student may be vaccinated at school. The form also provides an option for parents and guardians who do not want their child vaccinated at school to decline vaccination.

If, at any time, you change your mind about having your child vaccinated at school, please contact your child's school nurse or Mr. Timothy O'Keefe, Coordinator of Related Student Services, at (440) 974-5246. If you have any questions about the 2009 H1N1 vaccine, please call the Lake County General Health District at (440) 350-2554 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. or consult your health care provider. Additional resources can be found at www.flu.gov.

We anticipate many options for H1N1 vaccination in Lake County. Since parents and guardians will not be present for the in-school vaccinations, many may prefer to have the vaccine administered by their family health care provider. Additionally, community H1N1 vaccination clinics will be conducted across Lake County this fall/winter.

The Mentor Board of Education will hold a special meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29 at the district administration building. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss, in executive session, upcoming employee negotiations, personnel matters and any other business that may be brought before the board.

The district administration building is located at 6451 Center Street behind Mentor High School.

The Mentor High School freshman football game scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 29 vs. Cleveland Heights has been moved to a home game at the Jerome T. Osborne Sr. Stadium at 7 p.m.  The game was originally scheduled as an away game. 

Also, the junior varsity game scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 31 is now also a home game and will begin at 10 a.m.

Both games were moved to Mentor due to field conditions at Cleveland Heights. 

Mentor Public Schools has experienced several major website outages in recent weeks due to a failure of the district's web server. In an effort to provide a temporary means of communication to parents, the district launched its new website with limited link availability while the existing web server was being restored.

The district's existing web server has been restored and all teacher and school building websites are now available. We apologize for the confusion and inconvenience this has caused for many parents, students and teachers. We look forward to sharing our new website with you in the near future.

The Lake County General Health District is offering a public inquiry call center for H1N1 influenza questions beginning at 8 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 22. The call center will be staffed from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The call center will be in operation for approximately two weeks to assist with answering general questions related to influenza. A registered nurse will be available to answer limited medical questions.

The hotline phone numbers are:

(440) 918-5469
(440) 918-5470

For more information about influenza and H1N1, please visit the U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services flu website at www.flu.gov.

The LCMEA Middle School Band & Orchestra concert scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 21 has been canceled.

The Mentor High School Homecoming Parade has been canceled due to inclement weather.