10 students at Sacramento school taken to hospital; ‘chemically’ odor in classroom
Ten students and a teacher at Ethel Phillips Elementary School were taken to a hospital Thursday as Sacramento firefighters tried to identify a “chemically” odor on campus.
Students and school staff in one classroom first noticed the suspicious odor, the Sacramento Fire Department announced shortly after 11 a.m. Thursday in social media posts.
The 10 students hospitalized had minor complaints and were listed in stable condition, fire officials said. A hazardous materials team was responding to the school at 2930 21st Ave. near Franklin Boulevard to identify the possible source of odor.
The incident began about 9:30 a.m. Thursday when students noticed some type of chemical odor while inside a fourth-grade classroom, said Brian Heap, a spokesman for the Sacramento City Unified School District.
Heap said the students also experienced a metallic-type of taste in their mouths. He said the teacher informed the principal who cleared the students and staff out of the classroom, which is a portable unit that is isolated from the other classrooms on campus.
Fire officials conducted tests in the classroom and determined the odor was likely caused by a freon leak from the air conditioner, Heap said. Maintenance staff on Thursday afternoon were working on the air conditioner to determine what repairs need to be made.
Heap said the classroom will remain empty until school district officials have deemed it safe for students to return. He said the students and the teacher were taken to a hospital mostly as a precautionary measure.
“We’re just thankful that none of the students or the staff were seriously injured,” Heap told The Sacramento Bee.
He said the students and the teacher who were hospitalized appeared to be doing “okay.” School staff immediately notified the families of the students taken to the hospital.
They also called the parents of the students in the classroom not taken to the hospital. Heap said the parents of most of those students decided to pick up their children at the school and take them home for the day “out of an abundance of caution.”
Classes resumed as scheduled Thursday throughout the rest of the school after officials determined it was safe.
This story was originally published October 13, 2022 at 11:34 AM.
