For the past few weeks, Clinton Schools have seen hundreds of students missing school thanks to illness.

It is not uncommon for 200-300 students or more to miss classes because of illness and Superintendent Dr. Jeff Holmes says his nurses do not hesitate to send students home if they are not healthy enough to be at school. He encourages parents to take precautions and keep kids home until they are fever free and even symptom free for 24 hours.

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The district is taking as many measures as possible to maintain a clean and sanitized environment across the school buildings. Dr. Holmes encourages students to wash their hands as much as possible during this spell of sickness.

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Having several hundred students across the district out sick on a given day may be alarming to some, but Dr. Holmes says that is not enough for him to cancel school. He points to students who rely on the district for their meals through the day as the primary reason for keeping the schools open.

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As many as 300 students have been out of school already this month with sickness. National health officials have recognized this year's flu vaccine is not covering all the strands of flu that are cropping up across the country and recently there's been a resurgence in mumps cases nationally as well.