FARGO - With more than 10 percent of students absent today, McKinley Elementary School officials are sending a message to parents tonight to remind them to keep sick kids home.
As the flu spread throughout the student body of the north Fargo school, absences peaked Monday with 18 percent of students absent, 36 of who were identified with a flu-related illness.
District spokesman Lowell Wolff reported that, as of 3 p.m. today, 14 percent of students were absent from McKinley.
"They're sending kids to school when they probably shouldn't," Wolff said of parents.
In fact, the district as a whole has seen an increase in flu-related absences this week.
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Last week, about 320 Fargo students were out of school due to flu-related illness. As of Monday, that number had crept up to 389.
The district doesn't plan to shut down McKinley or any schools in district as a result of the spread of flu, Wolff said.
"It's just cycling through the community," he said. "We'll just have to urge people to keep kids home until they're completely well."
Wolff said it schools that had high numbers of absences last week have retreated to near normal numbers this week while other schools like McKinley are showing signs of the spreading flu.
Read more Wednesday in The Forum.
