THE BIG SICK
School district closes for two days after SIX HUNDRED students call in sick
A WHOPPING 600 students called in sick this week in an school district, forcing classes to be cancelled for two straight days.
Kids in the Three RIvers Local School District were told to stay home yesterday and today after cold and flu bugs wreaked havoc with the community.
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The closure will give the custodial staff "adequate time to completely disinfect and sanitize the campus while also allowing everyone time to rest and get well," according to the school district.
No one else will be allowed on the grounds during the shutdown, officials said.
Classes are expected to resume Monday at the three schools in the district.
"It's about a four-day incubation period, so that'll give us Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday to do some extra cleaning, sanitation, to get ready for Monday," superintendent Craig Hockenberry told .
"Hopefully, we'll get healthy again."
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Hockenberry added that about 50 staff members are ill in addition to the 600 students. About 2,400 attend classes or are employed by the school district.
"With so many teachers out of the building, it's not only impacting the students, it's impacting the teachers," middle school instructor and parent Sarah Kemme told in a story published Wednesday.
"We're having to combine classes and there is uncovered rooms, so so really just making sure that everybody is healthy to get even back the teachers for the students."
She added that "if you're even on the fence, if they're not feeling good or not, just with so many kids having it, it's good to keep them at home."
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The school district said in a statement earlier this week that the absences were "rising each day."
"Although our goal is to protect as much instructional time as possible, we also need to do everything we can to ensure our students and staff are healthy and in the best envionment to foster learning," the district said.
The decision for the two-day shutdown was made by Hockenberry and the Board of Education "in collaboration with" the health department.
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