Schools in HRM have hit a record for absenteeism amid the H1N1 outbreak.

More than 10,000 students and 270 teachers were not in class on Wednesday, the highest one-day total of absences on record for the Halifax Regional School Board.

The climbing numbers have some wondering if the province should have followed New Brunswick's lead and immunized all school students - an effort that would have had the backing of the school board.

"We would have been open to that possibility as a school board," said board chair Irvine Carvery. "We would have liked to have seen our elementary kids have an immunization into the schools itself."

The province says school kids weren't vaccinated because they're not considered a high risk group, and Carvery admits the board didn't push hard for school-based immunizations.

He says school closures aren't an option right now, despite absentee rates that have climbed as high as 40 per cent.

"I don't believe they should close those schools," he said. "That's 60 per cent of the students still coming to school and we need to provide them with their education."

Board spokesman Doug Hadley says eight more schools reported absentee rates higher than 10 percent on Wednesday, making a total of 91 out of 137.