Catbird
Senior Moderator
Flu closes Westview, Wyandotte schools
"There will be no school for flu-stricken Westview and Wyandotte, Okla., for the rest of the week, the superintendents of both districts told the Globe on Wednesday.
Newton County?s Westview School District, which has 120 students in kindergarten through eighth grade, closed Wednesday and will remain closed through Friday because of a flu outbreak, Superintendent Mark Fitch said.
?Our attendance just continued to run very low, very below average,? he said. ?We started the day (Tuesday) with 26 kids absent, and by 1 o?clock, we had sent seven more home. And Monday was pretty similar to that.?
Some faculty and staff members also have stayed home from school to battle the flu themselves or to care for their sick children, Fitch said. He said the school?s ability to get substitute teachers for classrooms was becoming difficult.
Fitch said this is the first time in his memory that the school has been closed because of widespread illness.
...Also closed today and Friday because of absences related to illness is the Wyandotte School District, according to Superintendent Troy Gray.
This marks the first time in his 21 years with the district that such a closure has taken place, he said.
Gray said 118 students were absent Monday, and 159 students ? roughly 21 percent of the student body ? were absent Tuesday.
?We?ve had a lot of flulike symptoms off and on the last week,? he said. ?I?m not saying it?s all flu. We?ve had all kinds of sickness.?"
"There will be no school for flu-stricken Westview and Wyandotte, Okla., for the rest of the week, the superintendents of both districts told the Globe on Wednesday.
Newton County?s Westview School District, which has 120 students in kindergarten through eighth grade, closed Wednesday and will remain closed through Friday because of a flu outbreak, Superintendent Mark Fitch said.
?Our attendance just continued to run very low, very below average,? he said. ?We started the day (Tuesday) with 26 kids absent, and by 1 o?clock, we had sent seven more home. And Monday was pretty similar to that.?
Some faculty and staff members also have stayed home from school to battle the flu themselves or to care for their sick children, Fitch said. He said the school?s ability to get substitute teachers for classrooms was becoming difficult.
Fitch said this is the first time in his memory that the school has been closed because of widespread illness.
...Also closed today and Friday because of absences related to illness is the Wyandotte School District, according to Superintendent Troy Gray.
This marks the first time in his 21 years with the district that such a closure has taken place, he said.
Gray said 118 students were absent Monday, and 159 students ? roughly 21 percent of the student body ? were absent Tuesday.
?We?ve had a lot of flulike symptoms off and on the last week,? he said. ?I?m not saying it?s all flu. We?ve had all kinds of sickness.?"