Friday Message from Dr. Thurman Regarding the Flu and AMI Days

Supt. Dr. Tony Thurman:

We are well aware of the neighboring schools that have made the decision to close due to illness early next week.

We have closely monitored our situation this week and will continue to do so. At the end of the day on Friday (1/31/2020), we still had over 90% of our students in attendance though we did have an uptick in staff absences. 

A couple considerations in regard to making the decision to close the district. Keep in mind that AMI should not be considered as a "free pass" to close school. Our state was generous to allow districts to have this option for emergency situations. They were not provided to allow for an extra five days off from school each year. If districts abuse the system, then we could expect them to cease in the future and all days closed would need to be added to the calendar.

Also, we still have the potential for inclement weather in the coming weeks and even the concern that the flu will get worse.  We do not want to use days unless it is absolutely necessary.  I can assure you that if I believe it's necessary and for the good of the entire district, we will close.

Another common thought is that it does not hurt anything just to close for a day. Please understand that closing school on short notice can be very challenging for parents who must find childcare, so the decision must be made in a very thoughtful manner.  Keep in mind that even though we had several hundred students out today for various reasons, we had over 9,000 that had a great day of school.

Finally, we will continue to closely monitor our student and staff absences. If we become concerned about providing enough substitutes to adequately supervise our classrooms or if student attendance drops significantly, we will certainly consider the AMI option.