IOSCO COUNTY, Mich. -- A Head Start teacher's aide at Hale School District has died from bacterial meningitis, several days after being in contact with students.

It happened in the Hale School District in Iosco County. The aide went into the hospital Saturday, complaining of an earache, and died.

TV5 and WNEM.com has received many calls and e-mails from Hale parents who continue to keep their kids out of school because they're worried about their safety.

Many of those parents said they will attend a school board meeting Tuesday night at the Hale Elementary-Middle School building to voice concern over the way the school handled the situation.

School officials said they notified the County Health Department and the Centers for Disease Control as soon as they found out Perkins had come down with strep pneumonia, which brought on bacterial meningitis.

The school superintendent told TV5 the agencies said it was not necessary to close the school and that antibiotic treatment was only essential if bacterial meningitis symptoms were present.

Administrators said school custodians thoroughly cleaned the Head Start room where Perkins worked.

Some parents said the entire school should have been shut down for disinfection.

Meanwhile, they said they're watching their children closely for symptoms of bacterial meningitis -- fever, chills, aching, earache, stiff neck and sore throat.

Health officials recommend children 4 years old and younger receive the Prevnar vaccine to help prevent some strains of meningitis.

There are two types of meningitis, viral and bacterial. Viral meningitis is usually relatively mild. It clears up within a week or two without specific treatment.

But bacterial meningitis is a serious infection of the fluid in the spinal cord, and fluid that surrounds the brain. It can cause brain damage -- and as was the case at the Hale School District aid -- even death.

Bacterial meningitis can be spread through things like coughing or kissing, but it can be treated with antibiotics.

District Disinfects School After Bacterial Meningitis Death