All school facilities in Kitimat and the Haisla nation have closed their doors until Monday due to illness.

"All the schools in Kitimat, including St. Anthony's, will be closing at the end of today,"Coast Mountains board chairman Barry Pankhurst told the Sentinel Tuesday.

Absentee rates "were just exploding," he said, with over half of the elementary student population absent from school.

He said their will be no access to the schools, aside from janitorial staff who will be working to clean the facilities.

"To close the schools was not an easy decision, but the pressure from the parents and the pressure of students not being in the classroom and staff being sick didn't give us much of a choice," Pankhurst explained.

All flu-like illnesses are being treated as if they were H1N1, he added.

Schools affected include Mount Elizabeth Secondary, Roy Wilcox Elementary, Kildala Elementary, Nechako Elementary and St. Anthony's Catholic Elementary.

In Kitamaat Village, the Haisla Elementary School, Haisla Nation daycare facility and Haisla Recreation Centre have also been closed until Monday.

"We are battling the flu issue here in the community," said Leroy White, operations manager for Kitamaat Village. "As a precautionary measure and to sterilize as much as we can of the virus, we're disinfecting and doing due diligence at the school, rec centre and daycare."

He said the village has targeted areas where the community congregates for cleaning.

Last week, with 40 per cent of their students downed by the flu, Mount Elizabeth Secondary School was the first to close its doors.

A news release issued by the school board said Kitimat schools have experienced "a significant increase in absenteeism due to flu occurrences."

The high absentee rates have made it difficult for staff to maintain effective instructional classrooms.

The board recommends that students, staff and parents isolate themselves as much as possible over the next few days.

All schools will re-open on Monday, November 9.