Flu closes Boyd and Greenup schools

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March 4, 2009

By MIKE JAMES The Daily Independent Wed Mar 04, 2009, 10:55 PM EST

SUMMIT — The flu has hit hard in Boyd County schools, making the district the second to close for the rest of the week because of the bug.

School officials made the decision to close on Wednesday afternoon after a steady stream of students went home sick.

Greenup County schools also are closed until Monday. Attendance percentages in both districts had fallen to the low 80s.

A third district, Fairview, was closed Tuesday and Wednesday after a boiler broke and drenched the high school with water.

Other districts in northeast Kentucky reported attendance dips because of the flu but not serious enough to warrant closing.

Greenup made the call Tuesday after attendance, typically around 94 percent, fell to 81 percent, said spokeswoman Scarlet Shoemaker. On that day, schools across the district were sending sick students home at the rate of 10 to 15 every couple of hours.

“They were dropping like flies,” she said.

Boyd’s attendance had dropped to 82 percent by Wednesday afternoon, said pupil personnel director Cliff Salyers.

“We’ve been sending students home all day long across the district,” he said.

The middle school, for instance, started Wednesday with 85.2 percent attendance; by the end of the day it had plummeted to 76.4 percent.

The bug also made a dent in staff attendance, with 38 employees, both faculty and support staff, calling off, Salyers said.

An aging boiler at Fairview High School overheated Monday and burst one of its pipes, which sent water cascading down the halls and filled the air with steam, Superintendent Bill Musick said.

Firefighters came and the school was evacuated but there was never danger, he said. However, since the heating system couldn’t be fired up until it was repaired, he ordered the district to close.

By Wednesday Musick was still waiting for parts to arrive from a supplier in Chicago. With milder temperatures in the weather forecast, he made the decision to reopen today.

Closing for the week in Boyd and Greenup will allow sick students to recuperate and maintenance workers to swab down schools with disinfectant.

One of the Greenup elementaries, Argillite, got down to about 60 percent attendance, said pupil personnel director Mike Raby. At those levels, faculty would have been spending much of next week reteaching anyway, he said.

Also, Kentucky schools are funded based on attendance. In Greenup, when attendance falls to 80 percent, it translates into a $12,000 per day cut in state money, Raby said.

So far this year, Greenup has called off school 22 days and Boyd has canceled 19 days.

MIKE JAMES can be reached at mjames@dailyindependent.com or at (606) 326-2652.

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