The day seemed to start off normally at Harrold ISD. But shortly after attendance was taken, teachers began noticing a trend that stretched across the entire campus.

Superintendent David Thweatt says, "We just noticed that there were some significant absenses in many of the classes. So we started counting heads and finding out percentages." The district was surpised to find absences around 18 percent. The culprit, sickness - including everything from the common cold to flu like symptoms.

Thweatt says, "Winter is a bad time because of the fact people are inside and closed up and germs spread more rapidly."
Thats why students were told they could go home early today. Students will also have no school on friday - giving them plenty of time to rest. The sickness comes at a critical time. Next week students at the school will be taking their taks test and school officials don't want the student body sick.

 "It's hard, it's hard to take a test for an adult but you can imagine what a child is going to be doing whenever they're sick not feeling well. They're not going to do the best they can. We'll come back on Monday and hopefully they'll be be able to get well the rest of the day and Friday, Saturday, and Sunday." 

In the mean time, while students are at home resting up, and the school is attempting to stop the germs from spreading into next week. "We are going to be doing some sanitation. We're also going to be turning down the heaters to get it nice and cold and thats a good time to do it because the germs don't have as much of a chance,"  says Thweatt.