Boonville R-1 School District cancels school for Friday after multiple cases of flu
UPDATE: ABC 17 News spoke to two nurses and one superintendent regarding the flu outbreak that caused Boonville Public Schools to close Friday.
Nurse administrator, Melanie Hutton with Cooper County Public Health Center said it’s a team that decides what’s best for the students and staff.
“The superintendent and the school board and the health staff and the teachers of the school … do a balance of how many kids are out, how many staff members are out. They look at their schedules to go, ‘gosh here’s a chance to do a four-day weekend to give some of those sick people a chance to recover and if there is any more people who have been exposed that may not be aware that they’re ill yet,” Hutton said.
Boonville R-1 School District officials took to Twitter about classes being canceled due to the high volume of people getting sick and said the schools’ make-up day will be Monday, Feb.19.
In the last three months, Cooper County has had a total of 54 cases of influenza: 31 cases of influenza A and 23 cases of influenza B.
Boonville’s neighbor, New Franklin R-1 Superintendent David Haggard, says that although their numbers are not quite as large, they also have a high volume of sick students around this time of the year but they do what needs to be done in the best interest of all their students.
“When our kids get sick, they go to the nurse and the nurse is great about sending them home or call mom and dad,” Haggard said.
New Franklin R-1 schools nurse Jan Hackman said she does her extreme best to make sure the students are OK and not just trying to get out of taking a test.
“We have a protocol that we follow, and I have guidelines. If they have fever over 100 or more, I send them home,” Hackman said.
Health experts also say if your child is not feeling good, invest in a thermometer to see if your child has a fever before sending them off to school.
ORIGINAL: Boonville R-I School District officials announced that the district would be canceling school for Friday due to illness.
Officials said many staff and students were sick with confirmed cases of influenza and attendance was very low.
ABC17 is reaching out to the district for more information on the incident.
