Sickness overwhelms Corbin, Williamsburg schools

The effects of several different illnesses has taken its toll on two local school districts with both Corbin and Williamsburg opting to cancel classes for the remainder of the week. High school football games at both schools are still planned as scheduled though.

Officials at both districts say they hope the combination of taking off the remainder of the week along with next week’s scheduled fall break will mean a chance for students and staff to recuperate.

Officials with the Corbin School District announced Monday that school would be closed for the remainder of the week and Williamsburg officials made their call Tuesday, which means students will not return to class until Oct. 19.

Whitley County became the first district across the state last week to cancel classes district wide, but is back in school this week.

Corbin Superintendent Ed McNeel said that the decision was made Monday afternoon but it wasn’t based solely on student absenteeism alone.

Attendance numbers hovered around the 88 percent mark on Monday, the same as Friday’s numbers, but the number of teachers out sealed the deal.

"Our numbers were the same as Friday with 88 percent attendance, but we had 25 teachers out sick today (Monday), which is 16 percent of our teaching staff," he said. "Some of them we didn’t even have enough subs to fill their spots.

"We were hopeful that the two days over the weekend would help the matter and then we were going to try and get through Monday and Tuesday, but things got worse," he added. "As for the district overall, the attendance was the same, but some schools had a drop off and some did better, but overall it wasn’t very good."

McNeel said the days missed will be counted just like snow days and that the district has a certain amount built in to the schedule. Dependant on how many days are missed throughout the remainder of the year, the days may have to be made up.

Though students and teachers will miss instructional days, McNeel said the district’s custodial staff will be hard at work trying to make the schools germ free when classes resume.   

"We will do a lot of special cleaning over the two weeks that we will be out and hopefully by then, we can resume with some sort of normalcy," he added.

As for Corbin’s Preschool Center, it is open as of now and an announcement is expected Thursday on whether it will stay open through fall break. If a decision is made to close for that time, the price of services may be prorated accordingly.

Williamsburg Superintendent Denny Byrd said that attendance was at 90 percent Monday, but had dipped down to 86 percent Tuesday prompting the closure for the remainder of the week.

Another factor that played into the decision to close was five confirmed cases of flu in the district. Byrd said that he has no way of knowing whether it is regular flu or H1N1.

"We just decided it was time," he said.

Byrd said that the entire building would probably be closed up for about two days while the janitorial staff disinfects everything in the building along with all the school buses.

He admits he isn’t sure how much effect the effort will have in preventing the spread of illness, but noted "at least we are being proactive this way."

He said the primary thing that is hitting students seems to be a stomach virus, which is going around along with a lot of students suffering from upper respiratory infections.

Byrd said that he and others are hoping that with 12 days away from school, the illnesses will have had time to run their course.

The district has five snow days built into the school calendar and that while he hated to use some of them so early, but with all students being housed in one building he felt that precautions needed to be taken.

Byrd said that officials are hoping they won’t have to miss much school due to bad weather or for another round of illness when the regular seasonal flu season hits.

Because of the way Kentucky High School Athletic Association rules are drawn up, Byrd said that if one school wants to play a game and another doesn’t, then it is listed as a forfeit for the one that doesn’t.

He said the decision is usually left up to the home school, and the superintendent at Campbell County is in favor of playing.
Byrd said that precautions would be taken, including possibly taking the temperatures of all players before they get on the bus.

"All indications are we will be playing an away game Friday," he said.

All other activities have been cancelled or postponed, including several scheduled field trips.

"We’re trying to have the fewest students together as we can," Byrd added.

As for Corbin’s football game, which will be played on Thursday instead of Friday, head coach Steve Jewell said it will go on as scheduled and that the Redhounds are not feeling any serious effects of the illnesses going around.

"We have a few that are a little under the weather, but we are keeping them separate from everyone else as a precaution," Jewell said. "We haven’t had anyone diagnosed with the flu, but there are some that are feeling under the weather."

The game was moved to Thursday due to the fact Knott County’s Gingerbread Festival starts Friday.