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Two more Boston schools close due to swine flu fears

E-mail|Link|Comments () June 11, 2009 02:57 PM

By Globe Staff

Two more Boston public schools will be temporarily shuttered due to swine flu fears, bringing the total closed during recent weeks to 15, school officials said today.

The Carter Development Center in the South End and the Louis Agassiz Elementary School in Jamaica Plain will be closed for a week due to significant flu-like illness.

The schools will be closed Friday and will reopen on Friday, June 19. The Agassiz Community Center next to the school also will be closed during this period.

"We take the decision to close schools very seriously," School Superintendent Carol Johnson said in a statement. "In buildings where we see widespread cases of flu, we believe it is best to help prevent new infections by keeping members of the school community isolated from one another for one week."

Of the 533 students at the Agassiz, 104 were absent today. At the Carter, which serves medically fragile severely disabled students, nine of 23 students were absent today, school officials said.

Other public and private schools around the state have also been closed due to swine flu concerns. Nine of the other 13 Boston schools that were closed have reopened after their one-week closures.