23News spoke with leaders from several area districts today and their universal message is keep sick kids home. So far that containment strategy seems to be working.

The head of the Winnebago County Health Department told 23News today he's surprised to report that schools are not reporting an unusually high number of kids sick with flu. In Stephenson County, Freeport schools have less than five percent of students and staff out sick. Their custodial staff is working doubly hard at anti-bacterial cleanings. While in Boone County, Belvidere school leaders are prepping for vaccinations.

This week, district leaders sent home H1N1 vaccine consent forms. They're asking parents to return those immediately, so they'll be ready with the correct number of vaccines as soon as they're available. However, until then the universal message is keep sick kids home.

Belvidere School Superintendent, Micheal Houselog says, "People would say well it didn't seem as bad as it was forecasted last year. And I remember at that time, people said just wait until fall. That's when it's going to have its second coming and we have been bracing ourselves for that ever since."

Houselog adds another challenge is determining whether they'll need extra health resources. These current cases are coming in before the normal start of the flu season and that could mean a longer period of illnesses.

School leaders add they're treating the H1N1 flu essentially the same as the normal flu, but tracking it a lot more carefully and reporting to county health departments. In Winnebago, district leaders are asking parents to give specific symptoms when they call kids in sick, so they know what they're dealing with.