When roughly 125 of the 850 students who attend North Bergen’s Franklin School called out sick Thursday, as well as a dozen faculty members, North Bergen school officials ordered the school to be closed the next day and cleaned in an effort to determine what caused the outbreak of illnesses.
According to Superintendent of Schools Peter Fischbach, Franklin School was set to be closed Friday so custodial personnel can totally disinfect the school.
“We’re going to have a thorough in-house antiseptic cleaning of the building,” Fischbach said.
When the students and faculty were calling out in rapid fashion, complaining of stomach cramps, pain, and nausea, Fischbach met with the Board of Education’s medical chief Dr. Ausberto McKinney, school nurse Maureen O’Connor, and Franklin School Principal Peter Clark to determine the next cause of action.
“After discussing the matter with Dr. McKinney and the school officials, we decided to close the school to prevent any further illness,” Fischbach said. “The best solution was to close the building and give it a thorough cleaning. We wanted to do whatever we could to keep it from spreading.”
At press time, it is not believed to be a case of food poisoning.
“It doesn’t appear to be food-related,” Fischbach said. “Without medical testing, it’s hard to ascertain, but we believe that it’s a virus and something airborne.”
Fischbach said that approximately 15 students at school received medical attention Thursday morning, complaining of the same symptoms.
“It’s also not restricted to a specific grade,” Fischbach said. “It’s throughout the whole school.”
Fischbach said that the attendance rate at the township’s other six schools (five elementary and one Early Childhood) were not affected.
“The attendance rates at the other schools appeared to be normal,” Fischbach said. “It appears to be the one school.”
A ceremony that was to honor the students Friday for collecting the highest number of Crayons for recycling purposes has been temporarily postponed.
John Keshishian, the vice-principal at Franklin School, said that he never saw anything like it in his three decades in education. Fischbach has been employed in the district for 44 years and he said he does not remember a school being closed because of a high absence rate.
“I can’t remember anything like this,” Keshishian said. “Over the last few days, the numbers [of absentees] just kept getting higher and higher. When it reached as high as it did today [Thursday], we had to do something.”
Keshishian said that all of the parents of the students were being notified via letter about the rash of illnesses. “We really don’t know the answer right now,” Keshishian said. “We’re just taking the proper precautions to close the school and clean it.”
Keshishian said that he spoke to several parents, and although they are showing major concern, there is no sense of panic.
“They’re not overly concerned,” Keshishian said. “We’re running everything like everything is okay and it is okay. We’re going to be fine.”
Fischbach said that the cleaning of the school will continue through the weekend and into next week, when the students are off for the winter break.
“We will be able to clean the school and perhaps conduct some air testing to determine the cause,” Fischbach said.
Fischbach said that if any student from Franklin School comes down with cramps and nausea, that the family should seek medical advice as soon as possible.
“I believe the parents seemed to be satisfied with the conversations they’ve had with the staff at Franklin School,” Fischbach said.