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State health officials ordered that Rockville High School be closed because a student there has likely contracted the swine flu, also known as the H1N1 virus.

An outdoor electronic sign flashed a message that classes had been canceled, the building's doors were locked and handwritten signs posted on the glass read "School Closed." Inside, building workers wore dust masks as they cleaned the second floor of the school.

The school will be closed indefinitely, officials said.

Meanwhile, at Albert Einstein High School in Kensington this morning, Principal James Fernandez said a student whose father had an unconfirmed case of the swine flu was pulled out of class at 10 a.m. Thursday and picked up by his mother. According to a statement from Montgomery County Public Schools released Thursday evening, no family member was showing flu-like symptoms.

Fernandez said he asked the student's parents to keep the student out of school until Monday, and the parents agreed. To his knowledge, no one in the school was showing any symptoms of swine flu, he said.

"We're not wiping down rooms and walls and things like that," Fernandez said.

Rockville High Principal Debra S. Munk said she was notified around 11:30 p.m. Thursday that the school would be closed today on the advice of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Munk said she has been told that it is "highly likely" that the student has contracted swine flu, but the case has not been confirmed. She does not know the name of the student, but said she and staff believe it is a teenager who has been out sick since Tuesday.

All activities at the school have been canceled today and over the weekend, Munk said. Rockville students are not allowed to participate in activities at other schools.

"It's huge," she said. "I mean, we have a number of activities planned for this weekend that were very important."

Those activities included the 41st annual National Capital Area Scottish Festival, SAT testing and the closing ceremony of the George B. Thomas Saturday School program.

"My concern is that we get opened again as soon as possible because we have [Advanced Placement] testing starting next week, and this is a really critical time of year for our students to be in school," she said.

Munk said she is not sure how worried the school community should be about the possible swine flu case.

"I don't have enough information yet to know how widespread it is and how concerned we should be, but as a principal, of course I'm very concerned — I'm always concerned about the health and safety of the kids and staff," she said.

At Einstein, office staff reported they had received at least a dozen calls from parents saying they were keeping their children out of school Friday. The office had received at least 50 calls from parents inquiring about the situation before 8 a.m.

Senior Karen Zepeda said she was using liquid hand sanitizer and covering her mouth when she coughed or sneezed.

"I think most of the people are worried," she said.

Fellow student Landon Adams said he carried hand sanitizer with him, and that "if you just take the right precautions" people do not need to be overly concerned.

Ann Parry, a para-educator at Einstein, said she agreed with the decision to keep the student home.

"You always have to err on the side of caution," she said.

At Westland Middle School in Bethesda, where a child from the same family attends classes, Principal Daniel Vogelman said it was "business as usual" Friday morning, despite the news Thursday evening that a student from the school might have been exposed to the flu.

"We're just taking the usual precautions, nothing more," he said.

Information wasn't immediately available on whether the student was in school Friday. Students at the 1,000-student school said they were taking the necessary precautions to safeguard themselves.

"It's sort of scary," sixth-grader Mary Houde Hostland said. "I've been washing my hands a lot more, and my parents told me to make sure I didn't share drinks with anyone."

Other students said they're starting to take measures they normally would not.

"I carry hand sanitizer now," eighth-grader Yusuf Madyun said. "I might run over to CVS right now and grab some more."