The Yellow Medicine School District started the week with more than 100 students absent, most with flu-like symptoms, said YME Superintendent Al Stoeckman. By Tuesday, the number had risen.

"We had 14 percent of students absent yesterday, and we're at 17 percent today," Stoeckman said.

The district has a total enrollment of 900 students, meaning about 150 were not in class Tuesday.

Stoeckman said the district has received confirmations of influenza A from some students' families, but there's been no word of cases of H1N1 flu.

Stoeckman said the absence figures counted all students, not just ones who were ill. But, he said, "the majority had flu-like symptoms."

Students weren't being sent home from class except on a school nurse's recommendation, he said.

The number of absent students at YME had stayed around 4 to 8 percent of total enrollment last week, Stoeckman said, but the numbers spiked Friday. The absences don't appear to be concentrated at either Bert Raney Elementary School or YME High School, he said.

"There's not a lot in the lower classes or a lot in the upper, high school classes. It's kind of spread generally, K through 12," he said.

The number of schoolchildren out sick in the area varies from district to district. While it can't be confirmed whether the absences are due to flu or flu symptoms, Tracy Area High School has seen a spike in absent students recently.

TAHS secretary Sue Nackerud said 80 students, or about 22 percent of the student body, were absent Tuesday, with several going home sick. Staff at the Tracy Elementary nurse's office said they were also seeing more children than usual visit the nurse.

Lakeview Superintendent Chris Fenske said 23 students, or about 4 percent of the student body, were absent from grades K-12 at Lakeview School Tuesday.

"It's about what we'd see in a typical flu season. The problem is it's only September, and we've had mild weather," Fenske said.

On the other hand, the Russell-Tyler-Ruthton and Minneota school districts have had few absent students since the start of the school year. In Minneota on Tuesday, only 12 high school and four elementary students were reported absent, said high school secretary Allyson Breyfogle. RTR High School Principal Pam Bush said there were only eight to 10 absent students in Tyler on Tuesday, and none of them had reported flu symptoms. Secretaries at RTR Middle School in Russell said they had also had few absences.

At YME, schools notified parents of possible flu risks via e-mail and a letter, and a copy of the letter has been posted under the parents' section of the YME district Web site. Stoeckman said faculty members would be meeting Wednesday for an update on the situation.

"We've been looking at and listening to the recommendations from the Department of Health," he said. "It's hard to have an exact plan."

Stoeckman said YME has also been taking classroom precautions like sanitizing doorknobs and other fixtures people commonly touch.

Stoeckman said there have been YME students sent home from school, but only based on individual recommendations from a school nurse.

"If the teacher has talked with a student and they're sent to the nurse's office, sometimes there's a call home," he said, although sometimes kids aren't happy about leaving school.

"We just want to encourage people, if their child isn't feeling well, then (the child) should stay at home," Stoeckman said.

Minnesota Department of Health spokesman Buddy Ferguson said 123 schools in Minnesota reported outbreaks of flu-like illnesses as of Monday afternoon, up from 67 on Friday afternoon, and 50 schools around the state are reporting that 5 percent or more of their students are out with flulike illness, the Associated Press reported.