McAlester News-Capital, McAlester, OK

Local News

September 4, 2009

Illness forces closure of Haileyville schools

By James Beaty

Haileyville schools shut their doors today in an unscheduled closing that is being attributed to the number of the school’s students who are ill.

“We have about 70-something students absent” out of a total of 505 students, Haileyville School Superintendent Joe Caughern said Thursday afternoon.

“We also had a bunch that were sick and came to school anyway,” he said.

Plans had already been made to close the school on Monday for the Labor Day holiday. Closing the school today, along with the regular weekend days off and the Monday holiday, will give students four days away from school.

Symptoms vary among students, but have included nausea, diarrhea and fever, according to the superintendent.

“There’s no swine flu,” Caughern said.

Had the students been tested?

“There’s none that we’re aware of,” the superintendent replied.

A few members of the faculty have also been ill, Caughern said. He himself also had a short bout with the illness, he said.

Plans called for a fogger that is designed to eliminate germs to be used around the school today, including in classrooms, rest rooms, locker areas and “every room in the school,” Caughern said.

The superintendent is hopeful that most of the students will have recovered and the illness will have ran its course by the time school resumes at its regular time on Tuesday.

If any students are ill on Tuesday, Caughern had a request.

“We urge parents, if their kids have a fever, keep them home,” he said.

Meanwhile, at Hartshorne Public Schools, in the town adjacent to Haileyville, students seemed to be avoiding the widespread illness that struck Haileyville.

“We’ve had a few kids with colds,” but the school hasn’t had a problem with students running fever, Hartshorne School Superintendent Mark Ichord said. The school has hand-held scanning devices that can quickly determine a child’s temperature, according to the superintendent.

Thirty-five out of 816 students were absent on Thursday at Hartshorne schools. That included 27 students in the pre-K through the sixth grades at North Ward Elementary School, four at the junior high school and another four at the high school, according to Ichord.

That’s about normal, he said.

Text Only
Local News
Seasonal Content
Poll

A recent study of southern tornadoes has found that storm shelters did not protect them. Where do you take shelter when tornadoes threaten?

A basement or cellar
A storm shelter
A hallway or closet
Bathtub
Other
I don't take shelter
     View Results
AP Video
Beryl Makes Landfall on Florida Coast UN Blames Syrian Forces for Shelling Houla Raw Video: Gay Protest Blocked in Moscow Vatican in Chaos After Butler Arrested for Leaks Jimmy Carter Endorses Egypt's Election Results Biden Addresses West Point Graduating Class Dozens of Children Killed in New Syria Attack Raw Video: Activists Allege Massacre in Syria NJ Man Charged With Murder in Death of Patz Support, Fun for Kids of Fallen Soldiers at Camp Fugitive Penguin Caught, Returned to Aquarium 50 Years Later, Underground Fire Still Burning Light Show Transforms Sydney Opera House Raw Video: Unruly Passenger Restrained in Miami Raw Video: Robber Uses Drive-thru Window Raw Video: Dragon Arrives at Space Station Calif.'s Coronado Named Nation's Best Beach CEO Salaries Become Sore Issue in Labor Disputes
NDN Video
Raw Video: Man Rescued From River in China Beyonce Entertains the First Family Celtics crush Sixers in Game 7 Alleged Lego Thief Faces Felony Charges Has Snooki Named Her Baby? Heat Wave Warms Holiday Weekend Inspiration for the class of 2012 Colorado College Student Shot While Trespassing Will Smith & Josh Brolin on "Men in Black 3" 80-Year-Old Skydiver's Nightmare Jump JWoww Sizzles in a Black Bikini Sliders on the Grill Cruise ship crunch Backstage With Beyonce Ultimate Creamy Potato Salad Pope's Personal Butler Under Arrest Jenny McCarthy's New Man Tyler's Classic Coleslaw Britney Spears Under X Factor Fire Flesh-Eating Bacteria Victim Hits Milestone
Parade
Magazine
Click HERE to read all your Parade favorites including Hollywood Wire, Celebrity interviews and photo galleries, Food recipes and cooking tips, Games and lots more.