Lincoln Schools Close again

Students still sick with stomach ailment

— Students in Lincoln schools are still getting sick after a two-day break, so the district is closing again today and Monday.

The closing gives students four days to get over the stomach ailment they apparently returned to school with Thursday morning.

“My concern is how fast they are going home today. We still have kids getting sick,” Superintendent Clay Hendrix said at midday after reviewing the number of absences and how many students left during the school day.

The elementary, middle and high schools were disinfected Tuesday and Wednesday with a special solution recommended by the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.

Surfaces in all classrooms and ancillary areas were germ-free by the time the students returned Thursday, Hendrix said.

Two basketball games that were to be made up Saturday afternoon will be rescheduled again.

Ann Russell, spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Health, said no tests from Lincoln are pending at the state level.

Russell said the communicable disease division reported more than one organism affected Lincoln students. One carried influenza symptoms, and the other was a virus causing diarrhea, nausea and vomiting.

Closing the schools was appropriate because of the number of students absent or getting sick, Russell said.

Eureka Springs schools opened Monday after closing for two days because of the number of students with flu-like symptoms.

The week before, Hellstern Middle School in Springdale was closed for two days because of norovirus, a severe stomach problem, which infected about 300 of the school’s 900 students.

Makeup days will probably be added to the calendar at the end of the year, Hendrix said.

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