Swine Flu fears close school district for a week

RIO GRANDE CITY, TX — Rio Grande City School District officials have closed all district schools and encouraged the nearly 10,000 students in the district to stay home amid fears of swine flu, according to The Brownsville Herald.

According to the story, this week is the testing period for theTexas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test used in primary and secondary schools to assess students' attainment of reading, writing, math, science and social studies skills required under Texas education standards.

Rio Grande City schools Superintendent Roel Gonzalez said: “I have too many kids who are absent and too many kids who are sick trying to come in and take the [TAKS] test. It's just causing too many problems. They watch the news from Mexico and there's a high level of anxiety, so I visited a bunch of schools today and I just felt so bad. One kid had a fever ... he vomited on his answer sheet and still wanted to take the test.”

The district decided closing all campuses was a wise choice because several students were showing up to school and exhibiting flu-like symptoms that could potentially spread to other students and their friends and family, the story stated.

Custodians are taking advantage of the school closings by sanitizing and disinfecting common areas and high-touch surfaces around throughout each school, the story noted.

Some custodians have decided to leave the thermostat at 62 degrees through the weekend in an effort to kill off any germs left behind, the story added.