MAYFLOWER — The Mayflower School District will be closed Monday because of illnesses sweeping mainly through the elementary school, Superintendent John Gray said.
He said the state Department of Health and other medical officials have been consulted.
“The main thing we’ve got is a virus with flu-like symptoms causing fever and respiratory symptoms,” Gray said.
“Another thing that’s concerning is we’ve got nine cases of mono (mononucleosis) in our elementary school, and that’s unusual because it’s usually a teenager disease.”
He said he asked officials at the state Department of Health to come in to investigate.
Gray said health officials believe the mono is spreading because “little kids keep their hands in their mouths a lot and touch their desks and their pencils, and then another student comes along and touches them.”
He said Department of Health officials also tested the fresh fruit, including “exotic fruit,” the district often gives students in the afternoon.
“We don’t think it is [the problem]; they’re just being careful,” he said.
Gray said the district’s janitorial staff disinfected the school buildings last week.
“We did a major blitz on the elementary school this week,” he said.
The janitorial staff started at 4:30 a.m. Thursday to disinfect the elementary school again, then went to the middle school and high school buildings, “changing air-conditioning filters, the whole nine yards,” Gray said.
He said two-thirds of the 440 elementary students were out Thursday because some parents were keeping their children out of school as a precaution.
Up to 100 elementary students have been out since the illnesses started Oct. 11, he said. Fourteen of the elementary teachers, which is almost half the staff, also have been out sick at one time, Gray said.
Gray said he sent a letter to parents asking them to keep children home last week if they had any symptoms of illness.
Some of the sickness is spreading to other members of the elementary students’ families, he said.
Gray said it isn’t the flu virus that is making the children sick, according to health officials.
“We were one of the first districts to get our flu shots,” he said.
He said that in addition to the state Department of Health, the elementary school has a registered nurse on staff, and a licensed practical nurse serves the middle and high schools.
“We’re working together districtwide,” he said.
The 1,440-student district will be closed Monday and will reopen Tuesday.
“We’re trying to break the cycle of this virus,” he said.
Gray said that during his career he has seen illnesses cause a school to close, but “normally, it hits the whole district. It usually won’t hit one building.”
In addition to school being closed Monday, Gray said the annual Mayflower Elementary School Fall Festival has been rescheduled from this Tuesday to Oct. 30.
“That’s a very big popular event, we can raise up to $20,000. It’s the one big fundraiser for the PTO,” he said.
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.