Absentee numbers surge at Amherst middle school Friday
Saturday, October 24, 2009
AMHERST - At the Regional Middle School, the number of students absent due to flu-like illnesses increased to 123 Friday.
On Thursday, 108 students were absent, up from 90 on Wednesday.
But the middle school was the only one in Amherst seeing a significant upswing of absenteeism, said Debbie Westmoreland, the superintendent's administrative assistant.
The typical absentee rate is 5 percent, said Principal Mark Jackson. On Friday, more than 25 percent of middle school students were absent.
On Thursday, about 23 staff were absent; on Friday, that number rose to 24.
Comments
Update, please
How about an update, Gazzette? 130 out yesterday at JFK middle school, and 11 teachers. Northampton has been hit hard, and everyone's talking about it. Would have thought H1N1 would be a headline today.