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.