Chester, citing mumps outbreak,cancels Odyssey of the Mind trip

Although monitoring situation in Iowa, Warwick Middle School team still ready to go Chester — The recent outbreak of a mumps epidemic in the Midwest may be enough to keep a few local Odyssey of the Mind teams from attending the world competition. Last week, while local students were enjoying their spring break, administrators in the Chester School District met with some of the parents of seventh graders who are scheduled to attend the competition in Ames, Iowa, and initially cancelled the trip. “The district, as of last week, provided funding to go,” said Schools Superintendent Judy Waligory. “We brought it (the mumps outbreak) to the parents and they were not in favor of going. This week, we’ve heard from other parents and we will have another meeting.” The administration did hold another meeting on Tuesday evening with parents of the team members. According to Mary Luciana, president of the school board, three parents were in favor of going, three were against going, and one was undecided. That being the case, the team will not go to the competition, Luciana said. The Chester School District has not made flight reservations for the trip as of yet. Alex Patane, whose son is a member of the Chester team and whose wife is one of the coaches, thinks it is a shame to not make this trip. “I was really looking forward to a lot of community input and excitement,” said Patane, who has been helping with fund-raising efforts. “And I’ve been getting it. We are the only district out of 800 worldwide that is not going. That’s a problem for me. Everybody else is going but us.” Patane said there have only been four cases of mumps in Des Moines County, which is where the competition will be held. There are 35 cases in Sullivan County in New York. Debbie Patane talked to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta and was told there is a “small risk” if the kids go to Iowa, but there is no alert. Luciana said the district has been very supportive and said money is not the issue here. “It is a matter of safety,” she said. The district checked with its pediatrician, Dr. James Wapshare, according to Luciana. He recommended the children not go. Alex Patane was disappointed with that recommendation. Chester’s disappointment turned into a generous gift for the Monroe-Woodbury team. With Chester now not making the trip, Patane donated the gift from the Bruderhof of transporting their props to the Monroe-Woodbury High School team. (Because Monroe-Woodbury School District is on austerity, team members, their friends and families are raising funds for the trip on their own under the auspices of Newburgh Family YMCA.) The mumps outbreak, as of last week, was considered the worst in the nation in 20 years. In Iowa alone, there were nearly 1,000 cases. Seven other nearby states have also been infected; many of the victims are college students. Mumps is a viral infection spread by coughing and sneezing. Symptoms include fever, headache and swollen glands under the jaw. There are few complications from mumps but they can include hearing loss, meningitis and swollen testicles. Mumps do not respond to antibiotics. There is a vaccine for the mumps, which is included with the measles and rubella vaccines called MMR, and is given in two doses. The vaccine was introduced in 1967, according to the Centers for Disease Control, causing a tremendous drop in the number of mumps cases nationwide. Normally, there are about 270 cases of mumps in the entire United States for an entire year. Teams from Warwick and Goshen are also set to attend the finals. Warwick’s middle school team placed first in its division and has been planning its trip to Ames. Dr. Frank Greenhall, Warwick’s superintendent, said the district is continuing to look at the situation but as of now, the trip is still on. “We’ve been monitoring the whole mumps situation for the past three weeks,” said Greenhall. “Since we’ve been back from vacation, the middle school principal and the nurse have been looking into it. My understanding so far is this is something the kids are okay with. “I sure hope we can go,” he concluded. “I’ve got to believe it’ll be a go, but we’ll be watching.” Warwick does have plane reservations in place for its team.