Classes canceled at Kelso school due to cases of stomach virus

Kelso students will not have school again until Monday because 42 percent of students are sick with a stomach virus.

Some of the students were sick Tuesday and did not come to school, while others vomited during the school day. By Wednesday afternoon 48 out of 112 students, half of the teaching staff and the superintendent had been affected by this virus.

"There's a lot of vomiting," superintendent David Newell said. "I got sick last night, but now I'm doing OK."

Newell made the decision to close school for Wednesday and said he has received a number of phone calls from parents thanking him for closing the school.

"I think it's something that's a virus that is going to pass from person to person," Newell said.

He said also decided to close school for today because the students only had a half day and the afternoon was set aside for parent-teacher conferences, which are also canceled. Parent-teacher conferences are rescheduled for Nov. 9. The students were already scheduled to be off on Friday.

Using snow days

"That's two of our snow days that we hadn't planned to use until the snow fell, but you just play the hand you've been dealt," Newell said.

High school students who live in the Kelso school district and attend Kelly or Scott City high schools will have to provide their own transportation, Newell said.

"The bus drivers are sick, too," he said.

Kelso area Catholic schools were off Wednesday because of a teachers' meeting.

Guardian Angel School principal Michelle Huffman said her school has not been affected by the stomach virus.

Newell is working with Karen Evans at the Scott County Health Department. He said she told him that it is just a stomach virus.

Evans did not return several phone calls Wednesday.

Scott City does not have any reported case of the virus. That school had 34 students out of 1,035 out on Wednesday. Scott City Elementary principal Courtney Kern attributes the low number of absentees to the effectiveness of the custodial department.

"They do a good job of keeping the school clean," she said. "The custodians are always cleaning the water fountains and bathrooms, and the students help by wiping down their desks at the end of the day."

The Cape Girardeau and Jackson school districts did not have final numbers available, but officials said they did not have any more students absent than on any other day.

All area schools say they are aware of a stomach virus and are monitoring it.

ameyer@semissourian.com

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