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Flu outbreak causes Windham to consider closing school                                                                                                                                                                        

WINDHAM — The 200 students who didn't go to Windham Middle School yesterday, many of them stricken with the flu, prompted the superintendent to ask the state commissioner of education if the school should stay open.

Commissioner Virginia Barry decided not to close the school because today is a day off for students anyway, but will reassess the situation Wednesday morning, School Board Chairman Bruce Anderson said last night.

About one-third of the school's students missed classes yesterday, with half reporting flu-like symptoms, Anderson said.

After Windham Middle School Principal Kori Becht reported the number of absent students to Superintendent Frank Bass about 9:30 a.m., he in turn called Barry, Anderson said.

A call to the commissioner is mandatory when the percentage of absent students exceeds a particular threshold, Anderson said. He did not know the percentage but said the Windham numbers prompted the call.

School officials learned that some parents kept children out of school for precautionary reasons.

"We heard that some parents were keeping children home because they worried that there were sick kids at school," Anderson said.

The chairman also suspects that some parents kept their children out of school to make it a four-day weekend since today is an in-service day for teachers, Anderson said.

At Windham High School, about 8 percent of the students were out yesterday, while between 13 percent and 16 percent missed classes at Center and Golden Brook schools, School Board Vice Chairman Mike Hatem said.

Typically, at this time of year, less than 10 percent of students miss school on any given day, Anderson said. Hatem estimated the figure at 5 percent to 6 percent.

The symptoms students experienced include fever, Hatem said. It is unclear what kind of flu the students contracted, whether it was seasonal or the H1N1 variety, he said.

Sixth-graders from the middle school who went on a field trip last week to Camp Bournedale in Plymouth, Mass., were not spared sickness.

About 200 students traveled to the environmental camp. Twenty-five of them reported flu-like symptoms, 10 students earlier in the week and 15 students Friday morning, the day the students returned home, Hatem said.

They had a "bad fever but it was short-lived," he said.

The students who got sick earlier in the week returned home.

Hatem said he knew of no adult chaperones who got sick at the camp.

Hatem, a chaperone on the trip, said the percentage of those who got sick at the camp was no higher than the percentage of middle-school students who did not travel on the trip and became sick.

The school officials said they are carefully monitoring students' health given the large number of middle-school students who were out yesterday.

The number of students sick in Windham isn't as serious as it is in some schools in the state, which have reported 30 percent to 40 percent of the student body out sick at times, Hatem said.

In Windham, last week, about 10 percent to 15 percent of the students were out of school at some point.

Hatem and Anderson said the districts' custodians have been cleaning doors and desks at schools, and signs are posted reminding students and teachers to wash their hands regularly.

Today, the schools will get a thorough cleaning.

Parents are advised to keep their children home from school 24 hours after a fever breaks so they get well and do not spread the illness, Hatem said.

Anderson said there will plenty of chances for sick students to make up missed class work if they stay home.