McDade Independent School District cancelled classes for the remainder of the week on Jan. 23 due to attendance issues brought on by the flu and flu-like viruses.
Via the district's Facebook page, McDade ISD Superintendent Barbara Marchbanks said the district only had 67 percent of their pre-K students, 68 percent of their kindergarten students and 78 percent of their first graders in attendance on Wednesday, Jan. 23. They only had 86.5 percent of their students in attendance district-wide.
Those numbers led the district to cancel classes the following two days..
All custodial and maintenance staff went in on those days to sanitize all school buildings and buses.
Marchbanks told KVUE the lower attendance days started this week, and that normal attendance for this time is 95 percent or higher.
"As a mom of five children, I do know that younger students are more likely to touch each other's faces and hands, and they come in closer contact with each other...during play time," Marchbanks said.
She said the district doesn't have a report on the number of cases of the flu among students at this time.