Rhode Island

RI School Cancelled Friday After 91 Teachers, Staff Call Out Sick

A high school in Warwick, Rhode Island, has been canceled after more than half of its teachers and staff called in sick. 

Superintendent Philip Thornton is blaming a "sick-out" at Pilgrim High School amid ongoing contract negotiations with the union. 

The school says 91 out of around 140 teachers and staff called in sick on Friday. 

Thornton told parents in an email that the numbers of teachers who called in sick rose so high that they could not safely open the school. He says the sick-out hurts students. 

Warwick Teachers Union President Darlene Netcoe tells WPRO-AM there was no union-sanctioned sick-out. She says it's cold and flu season, and if people call in sick, they are sick. 

Thornton says that's "ridiculous."

Copyright AP - Associated Press
Contact Us