CHARLOTTESVILLE — Eastern Hancock schools canceled all classes today (March 4) due to high levels of illness among students and staff.
“We are experiencing very high absence and illness numbers due to bronchitis, strep, Influenza A and Influenza B. We will use the day to further clean the school,” Eastern Hancock Elementary School Principal Amanda Pyle said in an email to parents late Tuesday afternoon.
All students will participate in an e-learning day. All school events have also been cancelled, and all on-campus events on Tuesday, March 3 were also canceled.
Eastern Hancock High School Principal Adam Barton said a high number of students were out of school both Monday and Tuesday with “a wide variety of illnesses.” The number of high school students who were absent surpassed 20 percent both days, requiring EH to report the numbers to the state Department of Health.
“Our thought process was to take tomorrow (Wednesday) to make sure that we have a chance to do a deep cleaning,” Barton said.
Pyle said the elementary school has not seen unusual rates of illness, but closed anyway as the school corporation shares a single campus and many elementary students have siblings at the middle and high schools.
Facilities at EH’s elementary, middle and high schools will be sanitized, and Barton said parents of sick students should keep them home for a few days.
Barton said the corporation will make a decision this afternoon on whether to remain closed for an additional day.
This is the second time this year a Hancock County school has been shuttered due to outbreaks of illness. St. Michael Catholic School in Greenfield closed on Jan. 28 due to high levels of student and teacher absenteeism caused by flu and strep throat.
Barton said levels of illness at Eastern Hancock this year had otherwise been normal.
According to data from the Indiana Department of Health, influenza has been widespread in Indiana this season. As of the week of Feb. 28, there had been five reported schoolwide flu outbreaks.
It will be the first e-learning day for Eastern Hancock, which approved online learning as an alternative to making up days later in the year at its January board meeting.