WINTHROP -- Absentee rates at Winthrop schools were back to normal Monday after a two-day closure linked to flu-related illness.

Superintendent Stephen Cottrell said the high school absentee rate Monday was 6 percent, when the middle and elementary schools rate was 5 percent. Only three staff members were out Monday, he said.

A week earlier, absentee rates at the schools approached 25 percent for students and staff.

Schools were closed Wednesday for Veterans Day; Cottrell canceled classes Thursday and Friday to allow people to recover.

"We're getting healthier," he said Monday.