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Blount County Schools has become the second local school system to close its doors in an attempt to break a cycle of illness that has recently gripped both system's schools.

Blount County's Thursday and Friday classes will be canceled, and Monday is the Labor Day holiday, so students will not return until Tuesday.

Alcoa City Schools canceled this week's classes a day earlier due to high absentee rates.

Three Blount County schools have been heavily hit by illness, said Blount County Director of Schools Rob Britt. The schools include:

— William Blount High School with a 23 percent absentee rate;

— Heritage High School with a 16 percent absentee rate;

— Heritage Middle School with a 17 percent absentee rate.

The system's four middle schools had a collective 15 percent absentee rate, Britt said. Carpenters Middle School had a 13 percent absentee rate. Eagleton Middle School had a 16 percent absentee rate. Union Grove Middle School had a 14 percent absentee rate.

The system's 13 elementary schools had a collective 10 percent absentee rate, Britt said. Blount County's overall absentee rate rose 3 percentage points from 11 percent Tuesday to 14 percent Wednesday, he said.

Illnesses across board

Britt said he visited William Blount High School and Heritage middle and high schools on Wednesday to see how things were in the schools and school clinics. Illnesses were all across the board with students reporting migraine headaches, achiness, sore throats and stomach distress ailments, he said. "I don't know of any documented cases of H1N1 (the swine flu), but there's certainly some flu. There's just so many other things that have shot up our absentees."

The student absentee rate increase coupled with the number of students sent home Wednesday prompted his decision to close schools, Britt said. Many students were dismissed early on Wednesday due to reported illness:

— About 30 William Blount High School students were sent home;

— 21 Heritage Middle School students were sent home;

— 53 Heritage High School students were sent home.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends closing schools between five and seven days to break a cycle of illness, Britt said. "With the fairly large increases today, I could not see it getting any better tomorrow and, in my judgment, it was best to close the schools and give us five days to break the cycle. I didn't want us to miss that window, and I just didn't see us getting well overnight. I saw us staying the same or getting worse.

"If possible, we'd like to encourage parents to use these days off to keep students at home, get them healthy and not take them out in crowds. We're hoping to break this cycle, and I hope the students will feel better and ready to learn when they come back on Sept. 8," he said.

After-school program open

Officials will leave all after-school Friends program sites open with the exception of Carpenters Middle School, Middlesettlements Elementary School, Friendsville Elementary School and Townsend Elementary School. "We've tried to keep some of these sites open, because we know how dependent parents are on them," Britt said.

If a child does not attend one of these sites, parents may take them to another site.

Parents are asked to pack a lunch, and students will be provided with a morning and afternoon snack. School officials are charging an additional $5 fee for each student and day a child attends.

Officials request all students attending the Friends programs be healthy and fever free.

None of the system's extracurricular activities is being canceled, Britt said. He has given school-level administrators permission to play this week's football games, he said.

Maryville schools open

Maryville's schools have not seen a significant spike in their absentee rates and will remain open, said Maryville Director of Schools Stephanie Thompson. The system's absentee rate is nearly 7 percent, she said. "We're still within our numbers, and we're watching and monitoring all our schools. We'd like to encourage parents to keep their children at home if they're sick and only send them to school 24 hours after their fever has subsided."

Maryville Intermediate School and Maryville Middle School have an 8 percent absentee rate, Thompson said. The system's elementary schools and high school are close to the 5 percent average, she said.