Students Sickened By Maintenance Work At Manteca School
MANTECA (CBS13) — A dozen students and an adult were sickened at a school in Manteca on Wednesday after fumes from maintenance work made it into the classroom.
Twelve-year-old James is doing better now, but earlier in the day he was one of 12 students who had headaches and trouble breathing after taking in strong fumes in his seventh-grade class.
"I was crying quite a bit and I had a headache," he said.
The school alerted parents as medical aid was brought in.
"My stomach was hurting and I felt drowsy," seventh-grader Daniel said of what he said smelled like paint. "And at first I could walk but when we got to the field, my legs were shaking too much."
Manteca Fire officials say the fumes were from a rubber sealant that a maintenance worker have put on the HVAC unit. Once it was on, the fumes went into the classroom.
Students say they alerted their teacher how they felt immediately, but didn't think it was addressed fast enough. At one point, a teacher had shut the door for an earthquake drill.
The Manteca Unified School District released a statement that reads in part, "Student safety is always our number one priority. A smell was reported in a classroom. The school responded by moving students to another room."