Mrs. Republicrat just went to Rio Linda Junior High School to see what kind of activity is going on. Well, the school is closed up tight. She observed one janitor going room to room pushing a cart.

People who live across the street from the school were outside. Mrs. R stopped and chatted. They told her that everyone from Rio Linda Junior High went home at about the normal time and that other than A LOT of traffic (people looking at the school), everything seemed business as usual.

I hope for our children's sake this is not the case. That perhaps this person living across the street missed the caravan of cleaners!

I have a child who attends Rio Linda Junior High School. Today my child came home with a letter from Pat Newsome, Interim Superintendent of Grant District. The letter is informing parents that a RLJH student has been diagnosed with the staph infection MRSA.

It goes on to say, and I quote:

Let me assure you that we are taking all the recommended steps and disinfecting all contact surfaces at the school. As a precaution, we are also:

-Disinfecting all contact surfaces at all other Grant District schools and all buses and

-Providing hand sanitizers in all classrooms, music rooms, labs and locker rooms.

The letter goes on to give recommendations on how to prevent the MRSA infection from spreading.

KCRA.com is reporting that Rio Linda Junior High School will be cleaned Tuesday afternoon and evening.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Grant Joint Union High School District said Tuesday that an eighth-grade student at Rio Linda Junior High School was diagnosed with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA.

The student was out sick last week and is currently being treated with antibiotics, school officials said.

Rio Linda Junior High School will be cleaned Tuesday afternoon and evening, school officials said.

Other local schools, Rocklin High and Natomas Middle, also have had an outbreak:

Natomas Middle

Administrators at the Natomas campus, which is located at 3700 Del Paso Road, are working on a plan to prevent an outbreak.

Fifty classrooms at Natomas Middle School got a full scrub-down on Monday.

The facility will be sanitized twice more before 800 students return to class on Tuesday.

Natomas staff worked Monday as part of a scheduled in-service day.

Parents of the Natomas students were also notified with automated phone calls.

Rocklin High

Rocklin High School officials received word that a student had contracted MRSA Monday morning, after a parent e-mailed officials over the weekend and notified them of the infection, Principal Michael Garrison said.

The student is doing well, Garrison said.

Four custodians thoroughly disinfected the campus Monday afternoon after school let out for a minimum day.

Custodians also had scoured the campus last week in an effort to prepare for the upcoming cold and flu season, he said.

Parents were notified of the staph case Monday through an automated messaging system.

Ok, a couple of concerns:

-In my personal opinion, RLJH has extremely poor disciplines. So, I certainly hope they take this serious and not just use handy wipes on the door handles.

-Why were the students not let out early? NO!

-Were Parents called? NO!

-My child came home with a letter. Could the MRSA infection be carried by this piece of paper? Can I contract this by simply reading it?

-Why did the school not use the automated telephone notification system? They used it for Back to School Night. Was this not that important?

Mrs. Republicrat and I have not made a decision on whether to send out little Republicrat to school tomorrow or not. I have calls in to both the RLJH Principal Harjinder Mattu and Pat Newsome, Interim Superintendent of Grant District. I will post a follow up when I actually speak with someone.