Elementary remains closed pending tests

State health officials were conducting tests in the building Wednesday.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
BELOIT -- "I couldn't stop itching," said Brittany Fugate, recounting how the outbreak of a rash at Beloit Elementary School one week ago today affected her.
Brittany, a fifth-grader, was one of 35 children and two adults taken to local hospitals for treatment of what officials described as a red, itchy rash.
West Branch school officials closed all of the schools Friday and gave then a thorough cleaning before reopening Monday.
Dr. Scott Weingart, superintendent, said 11 of the 35 children who got the rash last Thursday came down with it again in school Monday, prompting the closing of the elementary school and the attached West Branch Middle School again Tuesday.
The cause of the rash remained undetermined Wednesday afternoon, and the schools remained closed as officials from the state Department of Health and Environmental Protection Agency were conducting tests in the elementary school. The schools remained closed again today, although the middle school pupils, grades six to eight, began attending class in the nearby West Branch High School on Wednesday and will remain there the rest of this week, preparing for their annual assessment tests, Weingart said.
The elementary pupils remained out of class today, and Weingart said any decision on resuming their classes is on a "day-to-day" basis. The district has been unable to find suitable space to accommodate them, he said.
Children's reaction
Brittany said she cried when she developed the rash, fearful of what it might be.
She didn't care much for the ambulance ride to Alliance Community Hospital either.
"It was real bad," said her mother, Pam Fugate of Sebring, explaining that the red rash made deep, albeit temporary, marks in Brittany's skin.
Brittany was given Benadryl at the hospital, went home and fell asleep. When she awoke, the rash was gone, Fugate said.
Brittany said the rash was on her legs, arms and front and back of her neck.
Fugate said Brittany was wearing short sleeves and capri pants, and the rash affected the exposed areas of skin. Some of her friends who were wearing long sleeves and long pants didn't get the rash on their arms or legs, Brittany said.
Her older sister, Brandy, an eighth-grader in the middle school, also developed a rash on her neck but didn't report it because it didn't bother her, Fugate said. It faded after she got home, and no treatment was necessary.
Brittany wasn't one of those experiencing a recurrence of the rash Monday.
Weingart said he is confident there is no toxic substance in the school that caused the rash that affected primarily fourth-graders. The Mahoning County HazMat team tested the building twice and found no toxic material, he said.
Just rumors
Rumors that someone used a new cleaning agent in the elementary last Thursday and that someone was cleaning band instruments with a chemical that affected the children are just that -- rumors, Weingart said.
The district is required to maintain detailed lists of what chemicals are used, when and in what quantities, and the state has reviewed those records and determined that nothing new was introduced into the building nor were any quantities changed, he said.
"There's nothing wrong with this [four-year-old] building," Weingart said, adding that the search for an irritant that may have caused the rash must go on.
The cause might never be pinpointed, he noted.
There are no contingency plans in place for reopening the schools, but, unless there is some good reason to prevent it, they could be open Monday, said Weingart, who has a daughter who attends the elementary school.
The district has used its five allotted state calamity days this year because of bad weather, but no decision has been made about making up days lost to the rash.
The high school lost one additional day, the middle school lost two and the elementary has lost four as of today.
Other pupils
Natalie Hardy of Beloit said her eighth-grade daughter, Caroline, came home last Thursday with the rash, which she described as being a pale red and quite itchy.
Caroline didn't even realize she had a rash until Hardy noticed it. Hardy said she treated it with hydrogen peroxide, and it was gone within two hours.
Hardy, who also has a daughter in kindergarten at the elementary school, said she is concerned that the rash came back Monday. She wants to know what is being done with the building.
Josh McCullough, a third-grader, didn't come down with the rash, but some of his friends did.
"They said it was real red and itchy," he recalled.
His mother, Barb Eberly of Beloit, said she came to the elementary school Wednesday to find out if school was to be canceled again today.
"It's strange. I'd just like to know what it is," she said.
Weingart said one high school student developed a rash Tuesday, as did four or five pupils at Damascus Elementary School and about a dozen middle school children.
There is no way to determine at this point if they were connected to the outbreak a week ago, he said, cautioning that rashes among children in school, particularly at the elementary level, are an everyday occurrence.
gwin@vindy.com