The following information was sent out to parents of students in Marietta’s school district
via text and Facebook post on Monday evening, January 27:
“Due to an overwhelming number of flu cases and other illnesses in both staff and
students, we will be closing school on Tuesday, January 28th and Wednesday, January
29th in an effort to allow everyone time to get well and to sanitize our buildings.”
According to school administrators, during the past several days, they’ve seen several
sick students, but that number reached 217 students as of noon yesterday, with several
additional students leaving throughout the day with more than 100 degree fevers.
That’s roughly 20 percent of the school’s enrollment – and that number that doesn’t
include all the staff and faculty members who are also ill or the sick substitutes that
might be called on to come in and cover for them.
“We just got to the point where, as much as we did not want to close, we no longer had
enough staff to safely operate school, and we knew that our staff and students needed
time to get well,” stated Superintendent Brandi Naylor. “We know that this is an
inconvenience for parents, but we just didn’t have any choice.”
Marietta resumed its regular schedule of classes on Thursday.