PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The “championship Bird flu” is spreading in one South Jersey school district — so much so that the superintendent had to cancel classes Friday during the Eagles Super Bowl victory parade.
In a last-minute decision announced Thursday, some schools in Gloucester County had to close because too many staff members called out sick, likely to attend the championship parade in Philadelphia.
In a letter to the community, Kevin Kanauss, superintendent of the Deptford Township School District, said officials had initially planned to keep schools open, and he apologized for the late notice.
“Due to a much greater number of staff callouts than anticipated, we have made the difficult decision to close our schools,” he said. “We know that many students and staff have been planning to attend the parade in Philadelphia tomorrow, but we also realize that many in our community rely on our schools being open. We absolutely had every intention of holding school tomorrow, however with the number of callouts still increasing as of 7pm tonight, we are simply at the point where will be unable to safely transport and supervise our students tomorrow.”
Philadelphia and Archdiocesan schools are closed Friday, as well as many districts in the suburbs.