GENTRY (KFSM) -- Gentry Public Schools will be closed Friday (Feb. 17) due to enough students ill with the flu and other illnesses, according to school officials.
The school reports that 13 percent of student have been absent with the flu or strep. The school will also be closed Monday (Feb. 20) for President's Day.
School officials said after discussing with the district nursing supervisor they decided to give students and faculty a four day weekend to recuperate and end the spreading of the illness.
"We are making an attempt for the students themselves, for their parents to try to give those parents an opportunity to keep their kids at home," superintendent Randy Barrett said. "To try and get the sick ones well without missing a day of school."
Barrett said they do not have an epidemic, but they want to do what they can to keep anyone else from getting the flu.
Classes will resume Tuesday (Feb. 21).