EASTERN – Before starting in on the agenda items at the Floyd County Board of Education’s meeting on Monday at Allen Central Middle School, Supt. Henry Webb addressed the concerns of some parents regarding the prevalence of H1N1 influenza, commonly referred to as “swine flu,” in the schools and the decision to not cancel school.

But after a 4 percent drop in attendance on Tuesday, Webb decided to cancel classes for the rest of the week.

“We are experiencing some sickness across our district,” Webb said. “We are aware of that. We continue to monitor the situation daily. We are also talking with other school districts regarding sickness. Many of the districts and schools around us have closed. Yes, we do have sickness. The one that concerns us the most is H1N1. Based on the information we have received, this is being treated like the normal flu.”

After receiving the attendance report showing the 4 percent drop on Tuesday, Webb decided it would be best to close the district’s schools.

“We trust this five-day period will have a positive impact on the situation and we will continue to monitor all available sources of information for student and staff illness and attendance,” Webb said.

According to Webb, the attendance rate of the school district was recently over 90 percent, despite the illnesses in the schools and the decision of parents to keep their children at home.

Some of the students who miss more than three days due to sickness are being unenrolled from the school district until they are ready to return to school.

“There’s a code when a student misses more than three days, and we are asked to put them on home hospital,” Webb said. “If they are infectious, we are not allowed to send out adults to work with them. Yes, this does help with our attendance, but if kids aren’t enrolled, we don’t any credit. It saves the parents from having to use excuses. The doctors are putting them out of school for 5-to-7 days.”

Webb recently mailed a letter to parents providing information on H1N1 and how the school district is dealing with the illness.

“I sent a letter home last week outlining information on this issue and I am hopeful that the information was helpful to our staff and our community,” Webb said. “We are expecting the health department to utilize our facilities in the next couple of weeks to administer the vaccinations after school, and parents must be present.”