Manawa Elementary School reopens

MANAWA - Manawa Elementary School reopened Monday, after being closed for cleaning Thursday and Friday.

Last Wednesday, 65 of the 241 students stayed home or were sent home with some sort of stomach illness, prompting the school to be closed for cleaning. (See FOX 11's report here.)

Monday, there were just 23 students out sick, according to Principal Sondra Reynolds.

The school met with students this morning and is taking several steps to help prevent the spread of the illness. Those include:

- No salad bar for the rest of the month
- Any snacks brought must be store-bought
- Any one coming in must wash hands.

Also, the school is encouraging lots of hand-washing by students and staff.

County health officials said last week the illness wasn't the flu, but rather some gastro-intestinal sickness. Samples were sent to the state hygiene lab for analysis. Fox 11's calls to the county health department weren't immediately returned Monday.