Published Saturday, October 03, 2009 12:13 AM

North Zulch flu closes schools

Eagle Staff Report

North Zulch schools will be shut down Monday and Tuesday because a mounting number of students have come down with the flu.

A high school dance scheduled for Friday was canceled, along with all extracurricular programs scheduled for the first two days of next week.

North Zulch High School Principal Tim Waldrip said about 75 percent of the 353 students in kindergarten through 12th grade were out sick by Friday afternoon.

"Wednesday, we had nine kids absent at the high school, then today there were almost 30 -- boom, it tripled," Waldrip said, adding that officials didn't have to cancel a Friday football game because one wasn't scheduled. "The kids just aren't feeling good, and we have to stop this before it spreads further."

So far, the flu hasn't hit the teaching pool, but officials were concerned that it wouldn't be long before that happened ,considering the high number of those sick.

Waldrip said precautionary measures had been taken over the past few weeks, including sanitizing hands, desks, common areas and buses.

"We're going to keep doing that and hope our numbers go down," he said, adding that most schools close when attendance drops to 85 percent.

North Zulch Superintendent Morris Lyon said that the two days missed by students in his district would be made up by using weather days adopted in the 2009-10 calendar. School will resume Wednesday.

Officials in the Madison County town's school district urged parents not to send their children to school with a fever. Medical experts advise adults and children with a flu-like illness not to return to work or school until they have spent 24 fever-free hours without using fever-reducing medications.

Those who have the flu with a fever should not congregate with friends, participate in other school or community activities or be taken to a different day care, health officials said, adding that an ill person may leave home for medical appointments but should wear a mask of some type while traveling to and from and during a medical appointment.

In neighboring Brazos County, College Station school officials said that as of Thursday there was a 5 percent absentee rate districtwide and that the highest rate at any one school was 8 percent.

In the Bryan district, the numbers were similar for those with flu or flu-like illnesses: Absences averaged 8 percent of enrollment.

The flu is on the radar of most government agencies. Navasota included fliers in all utility bills with information on how to stop flu germs. Town hall meetings are scheduled for noon and 6 p.m. Oct. 15 at the Navasota Center, 101 Stadium Drive, to inform residents about the flu.

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