By DIANE GASPER-O'BRIEN

dobrien@dailynews.net

No matter what you call it, the flu season is in full force in Hays schools.

Even with the H1N1 pandemic scare, it's tough to tell what type of flu an ill person is experiencing because H1N1 symptoms are similar to the seasonal flu, health officials say.

Because of limited resources, said Butch Schlyer, health administrator for the Ellis County Health Department, the state department does random tests of those sent in from physicians.

As of Monday, only four cases of H1N1 officially have been confirmed in Ellis County, with several "suspect cases."

"If a doctor does a quick test and it's positive Type A, it might be assumed it's H1N1," Schlyer said.

Schools in Hays were dismissing students with flu symptoms at various parts of the day Monday. Others already had called in sick that morning.

Symptoms range from a headache, fever and body aches to a sore throat and cough, or a combination of all of them.

The largest amount, and biggest percentage, of students missing from school Monday was at Roosevelt Elementary, where 113 of the 400 students (28 percent) in grades kindergarten through fifth were absent.

That number was up considerably from a week ago, said Janci Kugler-Mills, principal at Roosevelt.

"I'd heard Victoria had high incidences (of sickness) last week and is better this week," Kugler-Mills said. "It seems to run its course in a week. We're hoping to have the same experience."

Thomas More Prep-Marian High School reported the highest percentage of absenteeism, with 27 percent (60) of its 220 students out by day's end.

Across town at Hays High School, total numbers still were high (80), although that's less than 10 percent of its enrollment of 840.

"It's higher than normal but still not the highest; we were up to 109 about a week ago," HHS Principal Mike Hester said. "It goes in waves, and Mondays are usually the highest day of absenteeism anyway.

"So we'll just carry on. If we're short, we're short," Hester added, saying numbers change daily and today could be much better.

That's what Principal Bill DeWitt is hoping for at TMP-Marian, too.

"I just sent a letter home to parents last week that it's not a question of if (the flu) will hit us, it's when it will hit us," he said. "We were talking about how fortunate we'd been so far; I jinxed it."

However, DeWitt added, "I knew it was just a matter of time before it made it from other schools. And numbers are going to be higher this year anyway because of the heightened awareness of H1N1."

A big portion of TMP-Marian's absenteeism numbers Monday were Nations Hall and Marian Hall, the dormitory-style homes where residence students live during the year.

"We have a good percentage of residence students out," DeWitt said. "They all live together; that's to be expected."

Like Hester, DeWitt said school will go on as normal, telling his teachers to make adjustments where need be.

At the middle-school level, Felten had between 70 and 75 of its 433 students out Monday, while Kennedy reported only 12 absences among its 230 students for a city-wide low of 5 percent.

Kennedy's absences were down Monday after hitting high numbers the past couple of weeks said the school's principal, Lee Keffer.

His counterpart at Felten, Craig Pallister, was on the other end of the spectrum.

"We've had a myriad of things, so it's hard to say if it's all flu, but it's definitely hit," Pallister said. "At least our staff has been doing pretty well so far."

The other four elementary schools also were above 10 percent, ranging from 13 percent at Wilson (42 of 335) to 26 percent at Washington (31 of 121) and Lincoln (42 of 182).

Even with those high numbers, Washington Principal Allen Park said that was down from last week.

"We had 40 some (gone) about a week go," he said, adding it's an especially challenging time since it hit during the end of the first nine-weeks grading period.

"Teachers are trying to get all the grading straightened out," he said. "We just keep going."

Four staff members were out sick Monday at Lincoln as well, and Principal Elaine Rohleder said substitute teachers are getting harder to find now, too.

"Either they're sick or they have sick children," said Rohleder, who has been helping serve as a substitute lately. "So we're just covering for each other."