St. Catherine of Siena School in Norwood will close next week and cancel all extracurricular activities to stem a suspected outbreak of swine flu.

Principal Gretchen Hawley said in a letter sent to parents on
Friday that about 25 percent of the 560 students and 35 percent of
faculty members at the private Catholic school have flu-like
symptoms.

She says state and local health officials believe the H1N1 virus
is likely responsible for the symptoms since the area is not yet
experiencing any of the seasonal flu-like outbreaks.

Hawley says the number of illnesses spiked dramatically three
days ago.

Officials plan to sanitize the school during the closure.

Meadowbrook Elementary School, in East Longmeadow, and Grafton
High School were closed this week because of flu concerns.