Gibsonburg closes due to illness

My good friend, C, works in this district and was one of the teachers who got sick. Crazy.

GIBSONBURG, Ohio - All activities in the Gibsonburg School District were canceled Wednesday and Thursday. The superintendent also closed school.

He says us nearly two dozen of his teachers and staff called in sick Wednesday. Superintendent Tom Pieffer says the majority of the 22 teachers and support staff work at the elementary school. That's why that school was closed this morning, and why the Sandusky county health department is trying to figure out what they have and where it came from.

Officials originally thought the teachers might have the flu, but have since ruled that out. They're looking into other viruses and even food poisoning. Samples from the teachers have gone to the state health department for analysis. Results are expected sometime next week. Superintendent Peiffer said wednesday, "No one was here today at Hilficker Elementary. There weren't enough teachers to have school."

Students, like Brandon Wilson, were pretty happy. However, parents had a different reaction. Parent Lisa Farris said, "It caught us off guard. We were surprised."

So was the superintendent of schools Wednesday morning when teachers began calling in sick. Peiffer said, "It started out early. We had a couple people call in sick early. Then it kept snowballing and snowballing."

He doesn't know what's going on, but he guesses it may have started in the boardroom right next to his office. That's where the teachers attended an in-service while the kids were out on Columbus Day.