Rebecca Kanfer ’21

The students and staff at Coleytown Middle School were evacuated Monday Sept. 17, forcing shutdown of middle school for the rest of the week. Reports of several staff members and a student feeling ill at the middle school on Monday raised concerns. The school called the Westport Police Department who began an investigation.  Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2018, the school was set to be back on regular schedule.

The sudden sickness that affected eight staff members and one student was first to be thought of as a carbon monoxide leak, but the Westport Fire Department confirmed this was not the case. Other causes of the sickness have been speculated, including mold growth and an odor due to a mechanical failure at the school this past weekend.

The evacuation on Monday seemed unusual and students quickly learned this was not a practice drill. Monday’s 25-minute evacuation was a bit longer than the usual drill, but officials wanted to be more cautious, leading to a longer delay.

The event on Monday caused a lot of chaos inside of the school, with multiple students reporting a sense of confusion. “When the alarm first went off I thought of it as just a routine drill, but then other kids said that we usually don’t have have a drill more than one per month which confused me.” Talia Moskowitz, a seventh grader at Coleytown said. The evacuation began at 9:35 am and ended at 10 am leaving the students outside with no sense of what was happening.

The school was set to return to normal schedule on Tuesday but many students either did not come to school or left early from the nurses office. In an email to the Coleytown Middle School families, Colleen Palmer said, “The number of absent students exceeded 50 which is double the typical rate, and the nurse’s office handled dozens of students who complained of various health complaints today.” Palmer continued on to official announce that the school will be closed for the rest of the week which will give the school time to “complete visual inspection of the entire facility, a follow-up round of air testing, review all recent student illness complaints and further consult with medical professionals.”

Calls to the Superintendent’s office of Public Information line were not returned. Parents were directed to call 203 341-1610 with any questions on the subject (WestportNow). According to an email from Superintendent Colleen Palmer, to CMS parents “This has been an “all hands on deck” approach to address the issues of concern”, but it remains to be seen what the causes were and if the concerns can be alleviated.

Photo by Rebecca Kanfer ’21