The flu bug is taking quite a bite out of the student population in Appleton. It was so bad, Xavier High School cancelled all of its classes Friday, letting students stay home.

We checked with other schools and found abuot 700 kids in the Fox Valley are staying home sick, but frankly that’s exactly where schools want them to be.

At Roosevelt Middle School in Appleton, the motto this week is better safe than sorry. That goes for the students and their excuses, too.

“We’re sending them home immediately and not questioning if they’re pretending to be sick,” Roosevelt’s Al Brant said.

That’s because the flu is running rampant in Appleton’s schools. Roosevelt Middle School has been hit the hardest. Fifteen percent of their students are absent, more than double the usual absentee rate.

At Edison Elementary, nine percent of the kids are out sick. At Einstein Middle School, seven-and-a-half percent are staying home. At Houdini Elementary, the number is seven percent.

But at Xavier High School, after a hundred kids called in sick Thursday, the school decided to not even open Friday. Even the principal is ill.

That’s the size outbreak Roosevelt is trying to prevent. All the commons areas are getting cleaned every hour, and sick children are encouraged to stay home or go home.

The schools are glad it’s the weekend for the flu to run its course.

Xavier plans to open on its regular schedule Monday.