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Flu bug keeps 600 students and staff home from school

Posted at 4:42 PM, Dec 16, 2014
and last updated 2014-12-16 16:44:36-05

OAK PARK, Ill. -- Nearly 600 students and staff in District 97 were absent Tuesday because of a flu illness. That's more than 10 percent of the student population in the Oak Park district.

Eight elementary and two middle schools makeup the small district of 5,900 students.

When the sick calls came in today, the district sent out an email letting parents know of the unusually high number and that it'll be monitoring what happens the next 48 hours.

It's the latest concern, following others in the metro area, including last week's flu outbreak at Jackson Language Academy on Chicago's near west side.

At Nazareth Academy in southwest suburban La Grange, where a nasty flu outbreak forced administrators to cancel classes for two days last week, so staff could disinfect. A quarter of students were sick.

Oak Park District 97 says it will continue to monitor what's happening here for the next couple of days, hoping that disinfecting the schools tonight will help.

Click here to check the flu forecast map to find out when the flu is expected to peak near you.