On any given day in the school health clinic, you can find any number of ailments. This year, with the H1N1 virus making the rounds, school nurses and health aides are seeing even more kids.

"Oh the numbers are tremendous," Loretta Griffiths, Lead School Nurse Consultant for Harrison District 2. “We are seeing many more students coming in with flu-like symptoms.”

But can the nurses and aides in place handle the influx?

"We have done very well with what we have," said Griffiths.

We contacted the state board of education. A spokesperson says there are no mandates from the state level when it comes to school nurses. That's left up to each district. So District-2, like others, is doing everything it can with the resources it has.

But is it enough?

The National Association of School Nurses recommends 1 nurse for every 750 students. Based on that ratio, we found two local districts that not only meet, but exceed that.

That includes District 2. It has one nurse or aide for every 500 students.

D-70 in Pueblo also meets that ratio. It has one nurse or aide for every 665 students.

But it's a very different story for other local districts.

D-20 has one nurse for approximately every 2,500 students.

D-60 in pueblo has one nurse for approximately every 2,300 students.

And D-11 has one full-time health aide for every 2,200 students. But they also have 2 part-timers.

Numbers like these show why Colorado ranks 40th out of 50 states on the student/nurse ratio.

And as the regular flu season arrives, each district can expect a steady flow of students. But in D-2, Griffiths says they're prepared.

“I think it's just going to continue being very active and seeing a lot of students that are ill and just continue with the same things we're doing,” she said.

We talked to the state board of education about the chance they might start mandating school nurse numbers given our state's low nurse/student ratio. Right now, they say it's not the right budget climate to dictate resources for local school districts. So it's up to each district to decide what's right for it's students.