Flu Knocks Students From Cheney Schools

The flu bug that cleaned out classrooms in the Cheney School District last week appears to be losing its steam.

While 374 students remained home with the flu Tuesday, that’s a vast improvement over last week, when a quarter of the district’s students were bedridden with influenza A.

“Our numbers are down significantly,” said Superintendent Phil Snowdon.

In the first three days of last week, an average of 680 students were absent. Snowdon predicted the virus would spread from Cheney High, where it started, to elementary schools.

Students from the district’s five elementary schools accounted for 174 of Tuesday’s absences.

The biggest drop came at Cheney Middle School, where 71 students absent on Friday returned to school Tuesday. The middle school maintained the district’s highest absence rate Tuesday, with 104 students staying home.

At Cheney High School, 96 students were still sick Tuesday.

Sunset Elementary held the lowest rate, with 30 students sick.

Last week, almost two dozen staff members were also under the weather. As of Tuesday, just five remained sick.

Snowdon sent letters home to parents twice last week, warning them to watch their children for symptoms and to keep their children home until they were well.

Colleen Kirk, nursing supervisor at Cheney Medical Center, said it could take a few months for the virus to work its way through the community. She said the center was also seeing an increase in patients from nearby Eastern Washington University.

, DataTimes