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At least three Calhoun County middle schools have shut down for the remainder of the week as more than one-third of students reported having flu-like illnesses there.
Athens Area Schools, Harper Creek Community Schools and Lakeview School District all made the decision to close their middle schools on Monday after students began falling ill in large numbers.

It is likely, but unconfirmed, that the outbreak was caused by the H1N1 virus, said Jim Rutherford, county health officer. H1N1 influenza, also known as swine flu, spreads quickly among children and young adults because they have no immunity to it.

In Kalamazoo County, Climax Scotts Elementary School, as well as buildings at Galesburg-Augusta Community Schools and Gull Lake Community Schools will be closed on Tuesday and Wednesday due to excessive illness.

"Kids are dropping like flies," said Rich Franklin, Athens Area Schools superintendent and Athens Middle School principal.

And it wasn't just "test-day sickness," he said. He described a scene in which students were filing into the school office throughout the day with bad coughs, fevers, chills and body aches.

When more than 60 of the about 200 students had reported ill, Franklin made the call to voluntarily cancel school and all related middle school events through Sunday. The district's high school and elementary are continuing as normal.

He based his decision on recommendations from the Calhoun County Public Health Department and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that schools close at least five consecutive days when at least 30 percent of students report flu-like illnesses.

"We probably pretty much just burned up our snow days," Franklin said.

At Lakeview School District, 51 students went home sick in a two-hour period on Monday, said Wendy Meyer, communications coordinator.

Meyer said Lakeview's closure would affect the community swim program and other adult education activities at the middle school as well. All other buildings are holding classes.

John Severson, superintendent of Harper Creek Community Schools, said that only middle school students seemed to be falling ill Monday.