PERU — Nearly half of Peru Middle and High School students were out sick Tuesday.

It’s unknown how many of the absences are connected with H1N1, commonly known as swine flu, as illness continues to have a major impact on area schools.

Rumors are spreading as quickly as the flu, an indicator of the level of fear in the community over H1N1.

“My heart goes out to families,” Peru Central School Superintendent A. Paul Scott said. “We are all concerned about our community’s children.”

IN EVERY SCHOOL

School districts throughout Clinton, Essex and Franklin counties have been hit with higher-than-normal absentee rates over the past couple of weeks.

Many of the absences are due to the flu, and health officials say H1N1 is likely in every school.

Beekmantown and Plattsburgh schools were both reporting high absenteeism last week.

Beekmantown’s numbers have dropped, with only about 15 percent of the student population absent this week. On Tuesday, 88 High School students were absent, while 85 were out at the Middle School, 67 at Beekmantown Elementary School and 45 at Cumberland Head Elementary School.

Number for Plattsburgh weren’t available Tuesday.

STUDENTS SENT HOME

“During the last week, we saw some continuous upkick in the number of students per day who were absent from school,” said Scott, “and more and more of those instances seem to be associated with either flu-like illness or other symptoms.

“This week, we have experienced a substantial increase in the number of students absent from the Middle and High School, and among those numbers we had approximately 80 students that were needing to be picked up by their parent or guardian because of their health condition.”