PORT WING, Wis. (AP) -- With absentee rates as high as 33 percent, a northwestern Wisconsin school district decided to cancel classes Thursday and give students five days to recover from whooping cough and other illnesses.

The South Shore School District in Bayfield County has been hit hard by whooping cough, strep infections and the flu. South Shore administrator Clendon Gustafson says students will be off Friday as well because of a scheduled in-service day and Monday for President's Day.

Gustafson tells the Duluth News Tribune the building will be sanitized while the students are away.