High school students were evacuated to New Richmond Elementary.
“We’re going to move the Troubadours to the auditorium until we find what’s causing the problems,” said New Richmond superintendent Tom Durbin.
Fire and EMS crews responded to the high school after five students became ill about 45 minutes into their class in the choir room. They were transported to local hospitals and were released. Six other students from the class complained of becoming light-headed and were treated by EMS personnel at the scene.
Supt. Tom Durbin discusses air quality tests with technicians from Proactive Consulting.
New Richmond fire and EMS chief Mark Baird had the high school students evacuated to the adjacent New Richmond Elementary while his crew and support crews from surrounding departments did a check of the building.
“When you have five people become ill at one time, you don’t want to take any chances,” said Baird, who immediately had the building checked for carbon monoxide. “We had a small reading of 8 parts per million in the boiler room.”
School board members (from left) Sharon Stark, Ben Bird, David Painter and Kevin Walriven meet outside the choir room during the evacuation.
The boiler room, which uses natural gas to heat water for the building’s heating system, is located in another part of the building and not connected to the ventilation system. Durbin said he was told that 8 parts per million is considered a miniscule amount and firemen later reported the reading to be back down to zero.
Durbin called in Trane to check out the HVAC system, Duke Energy to check out the natural gas system and Proactive Consulting to do a complete air quality check of the high school. The tests did not reveal any apparent problems.
Durbin has scheduled Indoor Environmental Quality to be at the school Thursday to do another round of air-quality tests to double-check earlier results.
School board members David Painter, Sharon Stark, Ben Bird and Kevin Walriven responded to the high school and concurred with Durbin’s decision to close the choir room.
“We’re not going to put them back in there until we find out what’s causing it,” said Durbin.
The evacuation to the elementary went without incident and won the praise of high school principal Diane Spinnati.
"The students were just great and you showed why we have the best staff anywhere," Spinnati told her staff at a meeting following the evacuation.
School board member Ben Bird talks with evacuated students at New Richmond Elementary.
Teachers Brian McMonigle (right) and Rylan Shebesta wait out the evacuation with students at New Richmond Elementary.
