PHOENIX -- Flu is hitting some school districts particularly hard right now.
Dysart Unified School District reported 3,915 absences last month compared to 2,429 a year prior. That's an increase of more than 60 percent.
Deer Valley Unified School District reported 1,772 absences in September 2009. A year prior, the district had 1,518 absences. That's an increase of nearly 17 percent.
Phoenix Union School District reported 12,988 absences in September 2009, compared to 10,668 the previous year. That's an increase of nearly 22 percent.
Glendale Elementary School district also reported big increases in absences this year compared to the previous year.
"The most important thing is for students and employees … if you're sick, stay home,” said Jim Cummings, Glendale Elementary School District spokesperson.
Cummings said the district has a committee focused on H1N1 Flu.
"On Monday, we came back from our fall break, and what we were able to do is sanitize every single classroom and surface in the district, whether it was a restroom (or) a water fountain," said Cummings.
Representatives for Mesa Public Schools, Gilbert Public Schools and Paradise Valley Unified School District said that absences spiked for a few days at some schools, but there was no major change in the overall number of absences between 2008 and 2009.
Tempe Union High School District and Scottsdale Unified School District did not provide data on absences when contacted Thursday afternoon.
One Valley parent, John Boatman, said his family was taking precautions.
"We’ve just been trying to get the kids to wash their hands. We try to do our best if one of them is feeling a little bad, to (keep away) from the other kids so we don't get everyone sick," said John Boatman.
The family told us at one child’s school, the lunch menu even reminded sick children to stay at home.
A spokesperson for the Maricopa County Department of Public Health said at the peak of a typical flu season, 100 in every 100,000 students reports flu-like symptoms. As of Oct. 10, 700 in every 100,000 students were reporting flu-like symptoms.
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