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H1N1 not responsible for Pilgrim Academy shut down
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GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP - Pilgrim Academy closed today to allow its "many" sick students to recover and prevent spreading germs to healthy children, according to the school's Web site.
The school will not open again until Monday.
About 70 sick children, or 20 percent of the student body, stayed out of school Tuesday, or were sent home. The absentee list mushroomed during the three days before that, according to Christopher Storr.
The school has not seen so many students sidelined in many years, possibly ever. Coughs, fevers and upper respiratory infections dominated reported conditions, he said.
"It isn't an H1N1 breakout," he said. "The biggest problem was students coming back to school healthy and healed and just spreading it. ... We thought the best thing to do to protect our faculty and student body would be to close for the rest of the week."
The academy requires students to provide proof of the same vaccinations the New Jersey guidelines demands of public schools, according to Storr.
Atlantic County Division of Public Health Director Pat Diamond also did not immediately return a call seeking information about what, if anything, Pilgrim had reported about its closure.
About 500 children attend the pre-K-through-12 private Christian school at 301 W. Moss Mill Road in Galloway. It opened 28 years ago.
The H1N1 virus caused nine schools statewide to close during the spring. State officials did not immediately respond to questions about how many have closed during the fall and whether the tally reflects public or private institutions or both.
Posted in Atlantic on Wednesday, October 28, 2009 2:30 pm Updated: 11:22 pm.
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