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September 8, 2010

NY health official: End perfect attendance awards

BUFFALO — The top public health official for upstate New York's most populous county has convinced a local school district to stop rewarding students for perfect attendance.

Erie County Health Commissioner Dr. Anthony Billittier tells WGRZ-TV in Buffalo that he pitched the idea to the suburban Lancaster school district, where officials have agreed to discontinue the perfect attendance award program for the school year that began Tuesday.

Billittier says such programs indirectly push children to go to school when they're sick, a situation he says can spread germs to others.

Lancaster is the first district in western New York to completely do away with its perfect attendance program.

Billittier says he's encouraging other districts to consider doing the same in light of last year's swine flu outbreak.

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Information from: WGRZ-TV, http://www.wgrz.com

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