KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — In Bruce Lay's 20 years with Oak Ridge Schools, he can only remember school closing for illness once.
The now executive director of school leadership said Oak Ridge Schools closed for one day because they were short on bus drivers, cafeteria workers, teachers and other staff.
"We try to look at the big picture," Lay said. "We look at the [healthy students] who would miss school, the parents who would be inconvenienced having to find child care."
With just 11 percent absent on Friday, closing school for illness wouldn't make sense. Other city school districts, including Alcoa, Maryville, Sweetwater and Lenoir City, were open, too.
"We are fortunate that our attendance rates are still within a normal range," Sharon Anglim of Maryville City Schools told 10News. "Beyond data monitoring, we also regularly speak with administrators, nurses, employees, and parents to assess the overall wellness of our school family."
But on the county level, just five of the nineteen counties we spoke with were open. All others had too many students, teachers and/or staff members out to hold class as planned.
A Cumberland County spokesperson said of the district's 12 schools, only a "couple" have more kids absent than normal.
Some of their schools have attendance rates at 95 percent. The spokesperson said they cannot close the district because of a few schools.
In Hancock County, attendance supervisor Marta Stapleton said most of the students are showing up.
"Our attendance is great," Stapleton told 10News. She said a lot of their students were sick right before winter break and hopefully got it out of their system then.
She said nearly 94 percent of the elementary school students were present on Friday. At the middle and high school level, about 90 percent attended class.
Hamblen and Monroe County both held school on Friday, but will close on Monday due to illness.
The Monroe County school closure will affect Sweetwater City Schools too.
"[The sickness] hasn't really hit us yet," director of schools Rodney Boruff told 10News. "We typically go along with Monroe County's decision because we share buses."
Sweetwater City schools attendance has hovered around 95 percent all week with "very few" teachers out. On Friday, Boruff said 91 percent of students were in class.
He hopes closing school on Monday and Tuesday will prevent their attendance rate from dropping any lower when they return.
The most updated school closure information can be found at this link.