Corbett School District Superintendent Derek Fialkiewicz announced that classes at all schools were canceled on Thursday, “due to a significant number of student and staff absences related to illness.”
FILE: Corbett Middle School
Elizabeth Miller / OPB
In a statement on the district website, Fialkiewicz said Thursday home basketball games would be rescheduled, as would the winter formal dance scheduled for Friday.
“This decision was not made lightly, but it is necessary to ensure the health and safety of our students and staff and to allow time for recovery and mitigation,” Fialkiewicz said.
He said the district is working closely with the Multnomah County Health Department to mitigate the spread of the illness. He didn’t provide specifics about which illness was spreading, but the district included a link to the health department’s norovirus page in his statement.
In Clackamas County, the Colton School District was also dealing with widespread illness. Colton Elementary School was delayed by three hours on Thursday morning as a result.
On Thursday afternoon, the district announced that all Colton schools would be closed on Monday due to continued high absenteeism.
Essential staff at Colton schools were asked to report to work on Monday, to clean the buildings.
The Colton and Corbett districts both have four-day school weeks, so students were not expected to report for classes Friday.
