LOUDONVILLE — Crestview School District announced Thursday that it will close all its buildings Friday due to illness, and on the opposite end of Ashland County, the Loudonville-Perrysville School District made a similar decision, closing its McMullen Elementary School for the flu.
According to Loudonville-Perrysville School District’s Superintendent Catherine Puster, more than 20 percent of students at the Kindergarten through third grade building were absent from school Thursday, which prompted her decision to close.
The janitorial staff will work Friday to “very thoroughly clean and disinfect” the building, she said.
The other two buildings in the district will remain open Friday, as the number of absences has not reached the 20 percent threshold. Absences spiked at 16 or 17 percent at the high school earlier this week and have hovered at 12 percent in the CE Budd School, Puster estimated.
“We want to take every precaution because for the youngest students in our district, the flu is a big deal,” Puster said.
In her three years as Loudonville-Perrysville’s superintendent, she’s never issued a school closing due to illness, but she’s seen other districts within Ohio make the decision within in recent weeks and in past years.
On Friday, Jan. 31, Loudonville-Perrysville is among at least two other regional school closures. The Lucas and Mount Vernon school districts have also closed at least one building “due to illness.”
The Loudonville-Perrysville District had been working with the Ashland County Health Department to monitor student absences over the past few weeks after several cases of the flu were confirmed.
“Monitoring happens every year with all the the local school districts. We expect to see higher numbers this time of the year, but when the numbers get higher, then superintendents might think about closing school to stop the spread of the disease,” said Jill Hartson of the Ashland County Health Department.
She explained that this year, one version of the flu hit later than usual, which resulted in an overlap with another version that typically strikes in late January, early February.
She reminded parents to keep their children home from school when they exhibit signs of the flu. Students should not return to classes until they’ve been fever free for 24 hours without the use of medication.
To prevent the spread of the flu, Hartson advises people to wash their hands frequently and to either cough into a tissue or their elbow — not their hands.
Further, she wants people to know that it’s not too late to get a flu shot. They are available at local pharmacies and physician offices.
Get the most up-to-date school closings and delays for Friday, Jan. 31 here.
