LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The LISA Academy North Campus shut its doors after around 200 students missed school, many experiencing flu-like symptoms. This comes days after a west Arkansas district canceled classes after hundreds of students were out with the flu.
LISA Academy administrators made the decision to cancel classes at their north campus after seeing the number of absences spike.
They hope this will bring the spreading of the virus to a halt.
LISA Academy North Elementary Principal Bethany Ratermann said too many students more and more students with flu-like symptoms were trickling out of their doors.
RELATED: High school sporting events impacted by number of flu cases, nurse urge sick students to stay home
“We had a lot of students that were out yesterday and even as the day went on more and more were leaving. After we finally ended the day with 120 students absent we decided to close down the school and do a deep clean,” Ratermann said.
This is the first time the school has had to close its doors because of the flu.
“We just want to air on the side of safety, you know, an overabundance of caution. With little kids, you want to be safe and you want to keep everybody healthy,” Ratermann said.
The K-12 campus also saw 50 middle schoolers and 30 high school students out.
The campus is to remain closed until Thursday.
Meanwhile, a cleaning crew is inside getting everything disinfected. The Arkansas Department of Health said the flu season started off better than the previous year.
Medical Director for Immunizations Dr. Jennifer Dillaha said with recent spikes, people need to make sure they’re vaccinated and using good hygiene.
“We do see the peak of the flu season in January and in February and so this is right with where we often see the peak,” Dillaha said.
She said the LISA Academy is doing the right thing by allowing students to stay home.
“If they run a fever they should stay away from work or school until 24 hours without having had a fever,” Dillaha said.
For now, able students will do Alternative Method of Instruction or AMI days.
“Students can access all of their work online so they use programs like Google Classroom, they use our platform called Alex for math,” Ratermann said.
It’s not too late to get vaccinated. Dr. Dillaha said if you do get the flu, the vaccine can mean less severe symptoms.