Hopewell Area School District still working to identify strange smell in elementary school

HOPEWELL TWP. – As the Hopewell Area School District continues its work to identify a mysterious smell inside the elementary school, the school board this week addressed some parent concerns and offered a timeline of events.

Throughout a Tuesday evening meeting, parents repeatedly told the board that a smell is still present throughout the Hopewell Elementary School building and their children are still experiencing illnesses from being at the school.

While officials say that the building has been tested for various illness causes and ultimately deemed safe for students, they are still working to identify what is causing the unidentified "bad" smell experienced within the building.

The "bad smell" was detected by the school in December, which had been lingering in one of the classroom areas of the building connected to the vestibule and restrooms. According to Superintendent Jeffery Beltz, students were moved from that classroom on Dec. 14 and employees began an investigation.

Cabinets were moved in the classroom, revealing some debris behind the furniture, but the odor lingered and prompted employees to continue their search in the walls connected to the boy's restroom. This investigation of the bathroom walls led to the discovery of two dead mice, rodent dropping and nesting in the boy's bathroom. During the search, employees also found a patch of mold, which Beltz described as "handprint sized."

Discussions on social media have described the rodents found as shrews, but Beltz said that this narrative is not true and that there were never any shrews found in the building. The only rodents found in the building were the two mice, which investigators believe came into the building through small gaps in the metal walls in an attempt to avoid cold weather outside.

After opening the walls on Dec. 14, employees were not able to complete the cleaning procedure before students began to arrive at the building. Beltz said this was a mistake on the district's part, as the odor was increased during the investigation and began to alarm families.

"While the group was toeing the line, questioning whether school was started or not, in reality, kids were already coming off the bus and teachers were in the building," Beltz said. "You have an odor that is now coming in from the bathroom and an adjoining hallway, which is certainly going to catch people's attention. We would have rather avoided that scenario, but that's what happened, and we've created a little bit of a commotion there before school is about ready to start."

On Dec. 15, outside crews came into the building to treat the mold found inside the walls. That same day, approximately 20 students were pulled from classes at Hopewell Elementary School due to various illnesses and gastrointestinal symptoms. Later that night, Beltz was informed of the incident and he sent a message to parents informing them of the incident and notified them the building was disinfected.

The next day, Dec. 16, Beltz said around 100 families did not send their children, either due to illness or caution, and 30 students were pulled from school early.

Officials from the Pennsylvania Department of Health were on the site of the school that afternoon to potentially collect data from sick students, but no collections were done as the remaining students stayed in class. Beltz mentioned that any testing done within the school would have first been checked with parents, but as no samples were collected during the visit, no calls were necessary.

Out of an abundance of caution, the district moved to remote instruction during the week before winter break to allow investigations into the cause of the illnesses to continue. Air quality tests were done throughout the school to detect other sources of mold, which determined that there were low levels of typical environmental mold common for buildings and no evidence of interior fungal amplification. Only one classroom's HVAC unit had reports of the presence of rodents, with nesting and droppings found inside a component.

The health department later provided a memo to the school board informing it that they tested various areas within the school and determined investigators did not have any fundamental concerns about the sampled areas' safety. The department also said the samples of the mold taken would not have led to the illnesses presented by students and staff.

As an extra precaution during the school district's investigation into these illnesses, the elementary school's water was tested by Creswell Heights Joint Authority on Dec. 21 for any sewage-related bacteria and overall water quality throughout the school. While the sewage test came back negative, three of the four water quality levels tested had come back with "high levels." The school has since flushed these systems and re-tested, deeming the water safe for consumption when students returned this month.

During this testing, water buffalos and bottled water were provided to students inside the building. Parents raised concerns over the continued presence of the water buffalos inside the building after the school district's announcement the building's water was safe for consumption, but Beltz said it "made sense" to leave the extra water available to students while they had it.

Hopewell Elementary School resumed classes in person on Jan. 3. While the kindergarten room was cleared for classes again, Beltz said that the class has not yet returned to that part of the building as the teacher is looking to make it a smooth transition and ensure instructional materials that were moved are returned to the room before returning there for instruction.

Parents at the board meeting noted some strange smells were still observed in the school and their children are reporting that they feel ill inside the building. Parents speaking at the meeting did not offer exact descriptions of the smell, but one parent did describe the odor as "something that doesn't belong."

Members of the school board and safety experts working with the district said they will continue to work on identifying these smells and ensuring student safety. Parents were also invited to come to observe the building for themselves.

This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Hopewell Area School District still working to identify strange smell