Wednesday February 11, 2009

A flu outbreak kept dozens of students home from the Covenant School's Lower Campus Wednesday. With teachers and other faculty battling the bug as well, school leadership says they're cancelling Thursday classes.

"I think they kind of need to let the bug get through," says Jennifer Carson, a mother of two students at Covenant. "For the kids that are contagious and we don't know it yet, [we don't want them] to...be around all the other ones."

Parents say the flu problem worsened over the past week to the point where Wednesday more than 20 percent of the school's students stayed home sick.

With some teachers watching over classes of only five kids Covenant's headmaster e-mailed parents Wednesday, saying the school will be closed Thursday for a top-to-bottom disinfecting.

"I think it's a good decision," Covenant parent Patrick Grant says. "My kids haven't been sick yet. I'd rather that they didn't get sick, so I'm more for closing the school, cleaning it up. I think it's a great idea."

While the flu can get around in school or any other workplace, parents at Covenant are scratching their heads, wondering how it got this bad.

"Any time I've been in the building the teachers have been really emphasizing [cleanliness] and even in the curriculum there's a lot of discussion about how germs are spread and washing hands properly," Carson explains.

For the students themselves, they get a day off from school, but those who are healthy say it's not much fun when everyone else is sick.

"My teacher and my friend [are sick]," Fourth Grader Chase Carson complains. "It just really kind of wipes you out for a couple of weeks."

Covenant's Lower School is pre-K through sixth grade; that's the one that will be closed Thursday. The Upper School, which is in Albemarle County, will be open Thursday on a regular schedule.