Sunrise R-9 students found themselves with unscheduled days off Thursday and today (Feb. 16-17) due to sicknesses, Superintendent Armand Spurgin said this afternoon.
He said the number of students and staff who came down with a variety of illnesses Wednesday (Feb. 15) convinced district officials to cancel classes the rest of the week
“We had 20 students absent Wednesday, then had eight in the nurse’s office during the day,” he said. “We had strep throat, 24-hour stomach bug and confirmed cases of flu. We had four staff members go home with illnesses during the day after six called in sick before school.”
Spurgin said the district has one school, at 4485 Sunrise School Road, south of De Soto, and it has about 300 students in kindergarten through eighth grade. The district also has about 60 staff members.
He said the district’s janitorial staff has been disinfecting the building.
“What we’ve done is have the custodians disinfect – scrub it down and set off disinfectant bombs,” Spurgin said.
Since Monday is Presidents’ Day, classes will not resume until Tuesday, which is fortunate, he said.
“The biggest thing we wanted to do was get everybody home to recuperate,” Spurgin said.