ILI-related school dismissal monitoring system: an overview and assessment.
OBJECTIVE
This report provides an overview and assessment of the School Dismissal Monitoring System (SDMS) that was developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the US Department of Education (ED) to monitor influenza-like illness (ILI)-related school dismissals during the 2009-2010 school year in the United States.


METHODS
SDMS was developed with considerable consultation with CDC's and ED's partners. Further, each state appointed a single school dismissal monitoring contact, even if that state also had its own school-dismissal monitoring system in place. The SDMS received data from three sources: (1) direct reports submitted through CDC's Web site, (2) state monitoring systems, and (3) media scans and online searches. All cases identified through any of the three data sources were verified.


RESULTS
Between August 3, 2009, and December 18, 2009, a total of 812 dismissal events (ie, a single school dismissal or dismissal of all schools in a district) were reported in the United States. These dismissal events had an impact on 1947 schools, approximately 623 616 students, and 40 521 teachers.


CONCLUSIONS
The SDMS yielded real-time, national summary data that were used widely throughout the US government for situational awareness to assess the impact of CDC guidance and community mitigation efforts and to inform the development of guidance, resources, and tools for schools.
Surveillance and Evaluation Research Branch, Division of Adolescent and School Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia 30341, USA. LKK1@CDC.GOV
Laura
L
Kann
Steve
S
Kinchen
Bill
B
Modzelski
Madeline
M
Sullivan
Dana
D
Carr
Stephanie
S
Zaza
Corinne
C
Graffunder
Marty
M
Cetron
D000041:Absenteeism; D002487:Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S.; D002648:Child; D003140:Communicable Disease Control / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003195:Computer Communication Networks; D006801:Humans; D007251:Influenza, Human / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D007373:Interinstitutional Relations; D012574:Schools; D018571:Sentinel Surveillance; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology