“The number of students staying home sick with the flu is multiplying nationwide and normally quiet school nurses’ offices suddenly look like big-city emergency rooms, packed with students too ill to finish the day.

The federal government has urged schools to close because of the H1N1 swine flu only as a last resort. But schools are closing by the dozens as officials say they are being hit so hard and fast by the virus that shutting down for a few days is the only feasible option.

‘There was nothing else we could do,’ said Michael Frechette, the superintendent of Connecticut’s Middletown Public Schools where a middle school closed for the rest of the week after 120 students stayed home sick Monday and another 25 were sent home by noon. “

(H1N1 flu spurs closures of hundreds of schools – Salt Lake Tribune)