Students were sent home Sunday from the Maine School of Science and Mathematics in Limestone because of an outbreak of flu in campus dormitories.

According to Executive Director Luke Shorty, approximately 20 percent of the students at the residential magnet school contracted the disease.

Shorty said that even though students were sent home for break early, they’ll continue their studies online.

“I kind of see this as an opportunity to practice a 21st century solution to a centuries-old problem with the flu,” he said.

Shorty said the school will use Google apps to share work, lectures and class discussion during the break.

This article appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.

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