Fifty students are out sick in the Montrose school district, which only has 215 students overall.  While they don't know whether that's because of the H1N1 flu, administrators in other districts are stressing the importance of preparing for the flu strain.

While students across KELOLAND are tackling questions in the classrooms, school leaders are asking some of their own in order to prepare for the H1N1 virus.

"It was really nice to hear that, when we can expect the H1N1 vaccine, and who will get them first, and so on,” Baltic Superintendent Bob Sittig said

Area superintendents met with emergency planners and health officials Monday to get answers about the unusual virus. Everything from when they should expect the vaccines to whether the shots are safe.

"Got a lot of good information from it, and it's nice to hear that the state kind of really is organized and has things ready to go, when the vaccine comes in,” Sittig said. 

While that's not expected to be for a couple more weeks, Minnehaha County Emergency Manager Lynn DeYoung says this face-to-face meeting will go a long way in helping everyone work together this flu season.

"When the H1N1 vaccination does come, they're gonna play a critical role, possibly in getting information out, maybe having school sites as vaccination clinics,” DeYoung said.

And these school leaders will need to know how to get that information out, funnel people in and staff their schools so they can help protect the community against the flu.

"We wanted to bring them in as planning partners, so that the city and county in this region had a plan sharpened up and ready to go,” DeYoung said.

This isn't the first time health officials have held an informational meeting. They had one last May when the first cases of H1N1 were confirmed across the nation and in KELOLAND.