UBLIN, Va. (WDBJ7) — Dozens of students with flu-like symptoms forced Dublin Elementary School in Virginia to close Thursday and Friday.
Teachers loaded up on hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes. They scrubbed every inch of their classrooms with the help of custodians to make sure this sickness doesn’t spread.
“Have to get every single key. Every single mallet,” music teacher Kelsey Sykes said.
It’s a job that requires gloves, goggles and plenty of cleaner.
“Cleaned the desk, we’ve been cleaning our chairs. Anything that the students may have come in contact with,” third grade teacher James Bishop said.
Sick students have called in absent all week.
“I had one first grade class the other day that normally has 14 in it and I think they only had eight,” Sykes said.
It got worse. Since Monday, about 20 percent of all students have called out sick. The symptoms started last week and haven’t relented.
“We’ve done a lot of disinfecting today. Wiping walls, anything, basically, that’s not moving,” Mike Perry, the school’s principal, said.
Signs outside the building remind folks classes aren’t happening here for the rest of the week.
Canceling school was the best idea, the principal said, to give teachers and staff time to deep clean and scrub the germs away. Teachers agree, when students are absent, it means students will have to catch up on work while they reschedule lessons.
“When the kids have music the next week. They end up, we have to go over things again,” Sykes said.
“If you’ve got five students out for any particular length of time, it’s really going to impact their ability to pick up the curriculum and the material they’re supposed to be learning,” Bishop said.
Some teachers have been sick too. The ones that are still healthy came back on Friday to continue the cleaning process.
School will start back Monday with the hope any signs of the flu are gone.
Source: http://www.whsv.com/content/news/417798563.html