POWAY, Calif. -- Nearly 200 students are sick at a local middle school, and 10News learned some of those students have tested positive for swine flu.

Sources told 10News' Juliette Vara that the students from Oak Valley Middle School in the Poway Unified School District began reporting flu-like symptoms during a camping trip last week.

Since then, the number of children missing class due to illness has skyrocketed.

According to sources, 20 to 25 sixth-grade students went home ill from a camping trip last week. The students were living in dorms, and school officials think that initiated the spread of the illness.

"On Monday and Tuesday, half the class was gone," said one student.

"We have heard some of the doctors have diagnosed kids with H1N1," said Poway Unified School District Associate Superintendent Bill Chiment.

According to Chimient, the illness is confined only to the sixth-grade class.

On any given day, school officials said the average number of kids in a specific grade that call in sick to school are between 20 and 30.

On Monday, 131 children in the 6th grade called in sick. On Tuesday, the number was 103. Wednesday's number was 103. That is out of a total of 461 sixth-grade students at Oak Valley.

"This isn't the plague; it's not worrisome," said parent Debi Renkin.

The Poway Unified School District is not taking any chances and is working closely with the County Health Department. So far, the district said it does not know the exact number of confirmed swine flu cases.

"I haven't seen an increase in absences in seventh or eighth grades, even slightly," said Chiment.

School officials are working with the health department to contact every parent with a child out sick to determine the exact reason why and to make a decision on whether or not to close the school.

Health officials said they would consider closing the school if 30 percent of the students are absent due to illness.

The health department said it has received no confirmation from any doctor that a child at Oak Valley has the swine flu, but warned that it is still possible.