By Maggie Downs
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Educators are sick of students missing school.

And the students? Well, they're just sick.

Schools throughout the region have canceled classes today, after many closed Thursday.

Paul Zook, spokesman for St. Xavier High School in Finneytown, said the all-boys school would be closed today in hopes that "the bug will die out in three days of boredom."

Attendance at the 1,470-student school dropped dramatically this week with maladies ranging from strep throat to flu. The school typically has an absence rate of 2 percent. Monday, that number was 10 percent; by Wednesday, it was 18 percent.

"This is the first time I can ever remember being shut down for an illness, and I've been here for 35 years," Zook said.

Thursday, about 300 students were sick, Zook said.

In Northern Kentucky, the Fort Thomas district closed all its schools Thursday and today. Some of the district's five schools reported absence rates as high as 40 percent.

Some students were vomiting and feverish in class.

"You just can't carry on good instruction when that happens," said Larry Stinson, superintendent of Fort Thomas Independent Schools.

The following are canceled today:

Lawrenceburg Community Schools in Dearborn County, Ind.

Dayton Independent Schools in Dayton, Ky.

Fort Thomas Independent.

Mason County Schools, Ky.

St. Pius X School in Edgewood, Ky.

St. Lawrence School in Price Hill.

St. Catharine School in Westwood.

St. Aloysius Gonzaga in Bridgetown (registration for kindergarten and first grade is also canceled).

St. James of the Valley School in Wyoming.

E-mail mdowns@enquirer.com