WILLMAR -- Superintendent Jerry Kjergaard says the Willmar Public Schools had about 360 students who were absent on Friday, but he said the number was less than the number absent earlier in the week and he said there is no major flu outbreak in the school district.
An outbreak is defined as either absenteeism of 5 percent of more or the flu-derived absence of three or more children from the same classroom. Kjergaard said he doesn't know if all absent students had the flu or if they were absent for other reasons.
"Our attendance was better today than it was earlier in the week. We have to notify (the Minnesota Department of Health) when we have more than 5 percent of our kids gone in the building. We did that earlier in the week,'' he said.
