Schools here have been spared the worst of the flu bug so far, officials say.Elementary schools in Tiverton — Walter Ranger,  Fort Barton, and Pocasset —   all report a low incidence of flu absences.

“We had very little, one or two, but attendance has been fine,” said Manny Cabral, Principal at Walter Ranger.

Suzette Wordell, principal at Fort Barton, said her school had no absences due to the flu, “none at all. Our attendance has been outstanding.”

Pocasset School nurse Lori Dobbin said, “I have no absences reported from the flu. A large portion of our students were vaccinated.”

Tiverton Middle School’s nurse Joy Frain reported, “Our absenteeism is about normal,” while her counterpart at the high school, Lisa Bamonte, said, “we haven’t been too bad. Just a couple of cases, nothing widespread. We had a good turnout for a school-based flu clinic.”

Steve Fezette, Tiverton High School principal, however, said,”our staff members have got hit worse that the kids, proportionately.” He said he himself is just recovering.

At least three flu clinics, organized by the school nurses and the state department of health, were conducted last fall in the schools.

Pharmacies in Tiverton (Rite Aid, CVS), which vaccinate only those over 19, reported Monday that they had run out of flu vaccine last week, and were expecting more this week. Rite Aid pharmacy said it was vaccinating about 5-10 individuals per day, up until last Thursday, when it gave shots to nearly 40 before running out of vaccine. It says it has a waiting list of about 30 people.

In Little Compton, School Superintendent Kathy Crowley said there has been no increase in absentees. sparesAssuming there is interest, Ms. Crowley said, the school plans to schedule a flu clinic next week.

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