Attendance drops at Chester County Jr. High after sickness spreads

CHESTER CO., Tenn. –Most students across West Tennessee have their sights set on summer vacation. Unfortunately for one local school, students are focused on getting well.

“I received word early Thursday morning that there was a large number of staff who had called in sick from the Jr. High,” said director of Chester County schools Troy Kilzer.

Kilzer says once he arrived to Chester County Jr. High school, he realized a significant number of students were also sick.

Kilzer says some students also checked out of school as a preventative measure to avoid getting sick.

Now school officials are investigating the cause of what they’re calling ‘gastrointestinal sickness.’

“We suspected that it could be a food issue, but through investigating, there were trips that occurred off campus, which carried them away for lunch time at other venues,” Kilzer said.

While Kilzer isn’t quite sure the illness originated at the school, he says they are still taking every precaution possible to make sure no one else gets sick.

“We are bringing in additional custodial staff, and they are going through our building with the disinfection to go through and to clean all surfaces at the campus,” Kilzer said.

Troy Kilzer also says the Tennessee Health Dept. inspected food preparation and custodial practice at Chester County Junior High but didn’t find any errors.