Dexter Schools USD 471 announced Monday that it was dismissing students and staff three days early for winter break because of widespread illness across its K–12 campus. Classes are scheduled to resume on Monday, Jan. 5.
“We are going through a tremendous amount of sickness right now, and it seems to be spreading at a very high rate,” the district said in a Facebook announcement.
“Not only are we concerned with student and staff sickness now, but we also don’t want to continue to spread the sickness and end up with students taking it to their extended families (grandma and grandpa) over the holiday break,” the post added.
Absences spike as phones “ring off the wall.”
K.B. Criss, the district’s superintendent and principal, told media that Dexter’s combined K–12 enrollment is between 250 and 300 students, and that roughly 25% to 35% appeared to be out sick within the first hour of school Monday.
“The phone was ringing off the wall with kids being sick,” he said. “I think by nine o’clock, we had between 40 and 50 families call, and that’s a large percent of our student body.”
With so many students staying home and staff also falling ill, district officials opted to start winter break early rather than keep pushing through the week.
Wide range of respiratory illnesses and symptoms
Criss said most of the illnesses appeared to be respiratory in nature, but the symptoms covered a wide spectrum.
“The symptoms ranged from all over the place. We had staff who were not only throwing up, but also had diarrhea. We had body aches, fevers, bronchitis, strep throat, and the one common thing with all of it was terrible headaches,” he said.
Other leading symptoms included congestion, coughs, and fever. Some students and staff were diagnosed with RSV and the flu, according to Criss.
The district’s website notes that free testing is available for Flu A/B, RSV, Strep A, and COVID-19, giving families a way to check what might be circulating at home.
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Local spike contrasts with broader Kansas trends
Despite the localized wave of sickness in Dexter, statewide data show Kansas currently has a low level of respiratory illness overall, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nationally, the CDC says the amount of acute respiratory illness sending people to health care providers is also low, as is COVID-19 activity.
At the same time, “seasonal influenza activity continues to increase in most areas of the country,” the CDC reports, while RSV activity is rising “in many Southeastern, Southern, and mid-Atlantic states.”
Dexter Schools USD 471 sits about 70 miles southeast of Wichita, near the Oklahoma border — far from major metro hospitals, which can make staffing issues and sudden spikes in illness even more disruptive for a small district.
For now, administrators are hoping that an extended break will help stop the spread, give families time to recover, and allow the school to reopen in January with healthier classrooms and hallways.
Sources:
ABC News – “Kansas school district ends semester early due to widespread illness”
