District 51 Closes All Area Schools Due to Health Concerns

[UPDATE NOVEMBER 20 @ 2:30 P.M.] The District 51 has made the decision to close all schools in the district due to health concerns. Their hope is this will help eliminate the spread of the illness that's been spreading around the area. The schools will be closed Thursday, November 21 and Friday, November 22.

District 51 Posted this message on their website and Facebook page:

[ORIGINAL STORY] With a lot of schools closing recently due to illness, we decided to keep tabs with a list. Here are the District 51 schools currently closed in Grand Junction.

Unfortunately, a lot of schools have been closing in Grand Junction due to illness. There's been such a high number of absences lately due to illness. Students and staff all around Grand Junction have possibly caught a norovirus -- which causes vomiting and diarrhea.

Palisade High School was closed last week and has reopened. Now more and more schools are closing, including two schools just today. Here are all of the District 51 schools that are currently closed in Grand Junction:

• Juniper Ridge Community School
• Grand Mesa Middle School
• Mt. Garfield Middle School
• Rocky Mountain Elementary School

Although Mt. Garfield Middle School closed Monday and Tuesday and then reopened today, the school will still be closing early and closed for the next week and a half. Both Grand Mesa Middle School and Mt. Garfield Middle School are closed after 12 or 12:30 today (depending on the school) and will be closed until after Thanksgiving break. This means that both of these schools are now closed until Tuesday, Dec. 3.

Juniper Ridge Community School is now closed for the remainder of the week. According to District 51's website, closures usually happen when student/staff absences are at/approaching/or are above 20% due to illness. D51 also stated:

Any student or staff member that is sick should remain home until at least 24 hours after the last episode of vomiting. In addition, all school attendance offices will make a student as excused this week if a parent calls the school to say they are holding their student home due to concerns that they may become ill.