EDISON — Township and county officials have not been able to determine the cause of carbon monoxide poisoning that sickened 14 students at Our Lady of Peace School last week.
“The lack of a conclusion was not without an exhaustive effort by Edison and Middlesex County professionals,” said Mayor George A. Spadoro. “These professionals explored every possible source for carbon monoxide in the middle school building and cafeteria, and attempted to replicate conditions that could have led to students being exposed to carbon monoxide in both buildings.”
The school has been deemed safe for re-entry, however, and will reopen to students this week.
Ten children, ages 11 to 13, were taken to area hospitals on Oct. 4 due to what was later determined to be carbon monoxide poisoning. All of the students were released later the same day, hospital officials said.
The school was closed following the incident and remained closed for the rest of last week.
“Students brought to JFK Medical Center were found to have elevated levels of carbon monoxide in their blood, and so it is believed that carbon monoxide was the cause of the students being sick,” said Edison Patrolman Robert Dudash last week.
Police and EMS workers responded to an initial call at 11:48 a.m. from the school’s cafeteria for a student suffering from a stomachache, headache and nausea, Dudash said.
“They then encountered three more students with similar symptoms, and then additional students at the middle school,” he said. “Some students had also started vomiting at this point. There are actually two schools there — an elementary school and a middle school — and both buildings were evacuated, but it appears the problem was emanating from the middle school.”
A total of 14 students were treated, Dudash said.
“Eight students were ambulanced to JFK Medical Center in Edison, while two others were brought to Raritan Bay Medical Center in Perth Amboy,” he said. “Another student was transported by a parent to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, and three more students were treated on the scene.”
Spokesman Rob Cavanaugh of Solaris Health Systems, which operates JFK Medical Center, confirmed that exposure to carbon monoxide had occurred.
“We have eight children that were brought to JFK, and in three of them it was confirmed that it was a mild case of carbon monoxide poisoning,” he said.
“In the other five students, the levels were not high enough to be considered elevated, ” he said. “All of the children were between the ages of 11 and 13.”
Officials at the school could not be reached for comment.
Township officials sent a letter home to the families of students as well as to school staff members detailing the township’s findings. As of press time, the school was deemed safe and was scheduled to be reopened on Oct. 11.
The source of the carbon monoxide could have been mobile, according to the letter, which also confirmed that the school had been certified as safe for students to return.
The school has agreed to install carbon monoxide detectors at various locations around the property.
— Jay Bodas