With the number of suspected and probable swine flu cases on the rise, local elected officials are calling for schools to put up hand washing signs and install hand sanitizer dispensers.

"I always give her a Handi Wipe in her lunch box, and I send her with a little bottle of Purell," says Beverly Woytowich, a parent at P.S. 321. "Now I notice she's using it more than ever."

Assemblyman Dov Hikind is pushing legislation that would require hand washing charts to be hung in all local schools. He is also backing a bill in the City Council that calls for hand sanitizers to be placed in all classrooms.

"It's the cheapest possible way to keep people safe," Hikind says, "and it prevents so many problems in the long run."

However, not everyone is convinced that using hand sanitizers is the way to go.

"It can cause germs to mutate and become more dangerous than they already are, so I think soap and water is sufficient," says a parent Barbara Kancelbaum.