A west suburban elementary school said Monday it would close for the remainder of the week due to a “flu outbreak.”
Komarek School in North Riverside will be closed from Tuesday to Friday, according to a letter to parents from District 94 Superintendent Brian Ganan.
“After disinfecting the school this past weekend, we still had a high number of students and staff sent home sick with flu like symptoms,” Ganan wote. “This is coupled with the very high amount of students who were called in sick prior to the school day.”
The letter says the school will be professionally disinfected while the building is closed.
Ganan said Tueday that 80 of the school's 555 students were sick Friday. By Monday, 25 percent of the school's population had either called out or were sent home and staff began getting sick.
Ganan said all school activities from sports to a choir concert would be postponed while the school is closed.
Komarek is not the first school this season to shutter due to the flu.
The Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, 1500 Sullivan Road in Aurora, closed its campus at 5 p.m. Jan. 22 due to the flu outbreak, according to a statement on the school’s website. The school’s buildings were scheduled be “thoroughly cleansed and disinfected” during the closure.
The closure came “as a result of high levels of influenza cases and based on information from the Kane County Health Department and the recommendation of Rush-Copley Medical Center,” according to the statement.
Students were directed to report to their residence halls until parents came to pick them up, according to the school. All students were ordered to leave the campus by 5 p.m. Tuesday.
A coach bus was scheduled to leave the school at 10 a.m. Tuesday to drop students off in Bloomington, Springfield and Fairview Heights, school officials said. Residence halls were scheduled to reopen at 3 p.m. Sunday, with classes resuming on Monday morning.
Kane County Health Department spokesman Tom Schlueter said the department has not been notified about any other school closings related to the flu, but that there has been a county-wide uptick this year of influenza-like illnesses and confirmed flu cases.
Despite flu season being in full swing, Schlueter said getting a vaccination can help to prevent the spread of the disease.
“It’s never too late to get a flu shot,” Schlueter said.
