WALKER COUNTY, Ga. — It’s not unusual to have students sick this time of year, but one school district had to shut down not only because students were sick, but also because teachers and bus drivers were, too.
Walker County canceled classes at all of its schools Thursday, due to three different illnesses. Walker County Superintendent Damon Raines calls it the perfect storm.
“We had norovirus, we had flu symptoms, (and) then we had strep throat. All three kind of converged at one time," he said.
Raines said this wasn’t the first time something like this happened. He said the school almost had to close due to illness two years ago, but snow fell and they closed for weather instead. That is not the case this year.
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“We’ve had a lot of absences. Teachers were kind of getting fed up with it,” said Camden, a freshman at LaFayette High School. He and his little brother were with their mom Thursday. They are healthy boys who noticed kids and teachers around them that weren’t feeling well.
“We definitely don’t want any more sickness than we have to deal with,” their mom Nikki said.
More sickness is exactly what school leaders are hoping to avoid, by giving everyone some time to get better.
“We’ve had students go home with a stomach bug and then come back a couple days later, not symptomatic and then go home with strep throat or the flu,” Raines said. “So it’s just kind of running it’s course through a lot of our kids.”
The superintendent said they had about 15 to 16 percent of students call in sick, which is normal for this time of year, but when substitute teachers and about 15 bus drivers called in sick, that’s when the district made the decision to close.
Buildings and buses have been sanitized and are ready for Monday.
Cox Media Group
