Bettsville Local School closes due to illness - WICU12/WSEE Erie, PA News, Sports, Weather and Events

It's that time of the year again, when the bug tends to hit a little bit harder. This week has been especially challenging at the Bettsville School, with more than 30 students out each day. The issue is that it's a small school district, with only 160 students total, with students from kindergarten to 12th grade, under one roof.

We spoke with Michelle Dantuono, the Principal of Bettsville Local School. "One of the aids came in and said 4th grade had 8 kids missing. We have 14 kids in our 8th grade class. We thought it would be best to take a step back, take a look at things, clean the school, kept the kids home today."

It's not just the flu.

Michelle added, "It's been a little bit of everything. We have flu, we have croup, we have bronchitis, we have pneumonia, we have strep.... We hope that the three day weekend will give the kids a chance to recover, and we can get rid of those germs that are floating around."

While the kids recover, staff venged a war on germs.

Michelle explained, "the night custodian started last night, she has mopped floors, we have cleaned lockers, we have cleaned tables, we have cleaned keyboards. The custodial staff has been wonderful. Teachers have come in and helped. We had a big brigade down this hall, cleaning the lockers, and people have been doing what needs to be done, from washing walls to the floors or whatever."

Now that everything has been cleaned, you could argue that it's one of the cleanest schools in northwest Ohio, and Bettsville expects to be back open, as regular, on Monday.