The flu has taken its toll on DeKalb County schools, forcing closure of the system for a day as absences skyrocketed amid the outbreak.

“We’ve been struck hard,” revealed Director of Schools Patrick Cripps, noting the major upturn in absenteeism due to illness began right after Valentine’s Day. “We had about 91 percent attendance on Valentine's but right after that it dropped to 83 percent.”

Cripps said that the flu took its toll on students and teachers alike. “We were losing students, teachers, bus drivers and staff and it was getting hard to find enough substitutes,” he noted.

With the writing on the wall, Cripps said a decision was made to dismiss school the Friday before Presidents Day. “That gave us a four-day weekend which we hoped would break the cycle,” Cripps said, adding the day off left the school system with a single bad weather day for the school year.

Cripps said the long weekend help alleviate the high absentee rate as they saw attendance back up to about 92 percent. A normal day sees 94 to 95 percent of DeKalb students in school.

“The high school was especially hard hit by the flu,” Cripps noted of the 815-student campus. The DeKalb school system has about 3,000 students.

Cripps added that while he hopes the worst is over, there are still reports of flu and even a new stomach virus circulating around the schools.

“Our teachers and staff are being proactive about reminding students to wash their hands regularly,” Cripps said.