A number of Tennessee Valley school districts will be closed Friday after seeing an abnormally high number of absences due to illness in both students and staff. A few schools will be closed Monday, as well.
Most districts will only be closed Friday, while Cleveland City Schools and McMinn County Schools will be closed Monday, as well. Meigs County Schools also was closed Thursday. Most school-sponsored activities over the weekend also have been canceled.
Districts have reported high absenteeism since the beginning of the week, with numbers only going up.
Meigs County Assistant Director of Schools Milburn Harmon said absentee numbers began to increase at the beginning of the week, with the high school having the highest percentage. By Wednesday, the overall average was at about 30 percent of absenteeism, and a number of both professional and paraprofessional staff have been absent.
He said the numbers of illness-related absences are abnormally high for the district.
"We just felt like we'd sit down for a couple of days and see if things were better on Monday," he said. "It was getting hard to find substitutes to fill the classrooms and we were having to double some bus routes within out county."
Meigs runs its own bus fleet rather than contracting a company.
It's not clear exactly what people's diagnoses are, but Harmon said they've had several reports of flu cases by local physicians.
He said custodial staff and others were in the buildings Thursday and will be again Friday to clean and disinfect to be ready for Monday.
Bradley County Schools' closing was more of a preventative measure, Director of Schools Linda Cash said.
"Our absent numbers are not extreme but I am seeing an increase as the week progresses," Cash said in a statement. "We will be in school on Monday since our absentees are not critical across the district."
She said surrounding districts are seeing more illness-related absences than they are.
"We hope this break and cleaning will assist our students and teachers in staying healthy," she said.
Just within the county at Cleveland City Schools, Director Russell Dyer said 1,626 - 29.4 percent - students were out at some point this week.
"That is far above the norm," he said in an email. "Our school staff hovered around 7 [percent] absent not counting cafeteria employees, maintenance, or bus drivers. That also is above the norm."
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TENNESSEE SCHOOL CLOSINGS
Bradley County Schools: Closed Friday; all elementary activities are canceled until Monday
Cleveland City Schools: Closed Friday-Monday
McMinn County Schools: Closed Friday-Monday
Meigs County Schools: Closed Thursday-Friday
Van Buren County Schools: Closed Friday
Westwood Baptist Day School: Closed Friday