Illness closes Fairburn private school

FAIRBURN, Ga. (FOX 5 Atlanta) - A Fairburn private school closes its doors after dozens of students get sick.

Landmark Christian Academy serves about 900 students from K-4 to 12th grade. On Wednesday, senior Chandler Rebel noticed several students were absent and of those that were at school, many were sick.

"Everybody is throwing up and getting sick in the hallways. I am glad they called it because I didn’t want to go home sick," Rebel told FOX 5's Aungelique Proctor.

Headmaster Dr. Jason McMaster says he made the bold decision to close the Fairburn Christian School for 3 days after a large number of students got sick Wednesday with flu-like symptoms.

In fact, the headmaster says he made the decision to close the school and even picked up the phone to call the Fulton County Health Department once he realized just how many people were sick. The health department sent some people out to the school to begin an investigation.

"There is the potential that it is the norovirus which is contagious that is why we said let's go ahead clean everything. Go above and beyond and keep our kids away and go ahead and clean things," Dr. McMaster. remarked.

The K-4 through 12 grade Academy hired Epic Solutions to clean the buildings from top to bottom.

The cleaning price tag will be costly, but the headmaster makes it clear student health and safety are his top priorities.

Many Parents agree.

"I like the way the administration handled it. They showed strong leadership from the beginning," parent Sally Rebel commented.

The viral concerns came on the heels of a water main break and water cutoff on Monday and Tuesday.

"It has been a really tough week," Dr. McMaster reflected.