JAY – Forty-three students and staff members at the elementary school complained about symptoms ranging from headaches to burning, itchy eyes Friday. Carbon monoxide tests were conducted Friday and Tuesday.

Principal Beverly Gillespie said the first reading fire rescue Chief Brian Shink took in a hallway bathroom showed a low level of carbon monoxide.

The chief felt that because it was a windy day there might be some fumes coming in through the bathroom vent. The vent was turned on and the next test showed no reading of carbon monoxide, Gillespie said.

The vent in the bathroom was left running for the rest of the day, she said.

Gillespie said 27 staff members and 16 students experienced similar symptoms of headaches, nausea, dizziness or being light headed, lethargy, a strange taste in their mouths, and burning, itchy, runny eyes.

Gillespie said she evacuated the first-grade wing where the symptoms seemed to have started.

Superintendent Robert Wall said he called in Shink to test the environment.

Shink didn’t find anything that would make people sick, Wall said.

Gillespie said after the testing was done Friday, she chose not to send staff and students back into the first-grade wing. She decided to err on the side of caution for safety purposes and peace of mind for staff, she said, and sealed off the wing by shutting doors.

Windows were also opened in some areas to change the air.

The air was checked again Tuesday, Gillespie said, and Shink deemed it safe.

Carbon monoxide testers are in some of the classrooms, she said, to continue to monitor the situation.

Gillespie said she asked staff to report if either they or students complain of experiencing similar symptoms.

Wall said custodian staff worked in the school Friday evening and didn’t experience any of the symptoms.

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