Flu Outbreak Causes Two-day Shutdown at Sunnyvale ISD

A flu outbreak has caused the Sunnyvale school district to close its doors Tuesday and Wednesday. Not only are absences soaring, but officials believe kids needed to be separated to prevent further contamination.Superintendent Doug Williams hoped a weekend respite would be the solution after absences increased 2 percent per day last week. Instead, Sunnvyale Elementary School was at 87.3 percent attendance Monday. The elementary -- pre-kindergarten to fourth grade -- is on the same site as Sunnyvale Middle School and Sunnyvale High School. District-wide attendance for the eastern Dallas County ISD was just over 92 percent Monday."The other two campuses (grades 5-12) were not as bad," Williams said. "But as closely as everyone works and goes to school together, we just felt like we had to shut down all three for a couple of days."Thursday was also considered for closure, Williams said, but with semester exams starting Dec. 19, the district wanted to allow Thursday, Friday and Monday for review. Teachers are also being asked to post review materials online so that students may have them at home during the two days off.As is allowed by new state law, the district built extra minutes into the calendar and "banked" five days for potential emergencies, so its overall calendar is not changed.  Continue reading...