Feb. 15--Westland High School will be closed again today while the state fire marshal's office and other experts try to determine the cause of an irritating odor that sent students and employees home yesterday for the second day in a row.
Two students, including one who has asthma, were taken to a hospital yesterday as a precaution. Both are expected to be fine.
South-Western district officials have hired outside experts in air quality and building systems to search for the cause of what has been described as a strong smell that caused students and staff members to become dizzy and nauseated.
"We will not reopen school until we have ruled out any building issues," district spokeswoman Sandy Nekoloff said. About 1,600 students and faculty and staff members typically are in the building at 146 Galloway Rd., she said.
Thirteen people were taken to area hospitals on Monday morning; all were checked and released.
Events yesterday unfolded in much the same manner as they had on Monday. Administrators reopened Westland because the odor was not detected after fire crews restored heat and ventilation on Monday.
A student in the same section of classrooms that had been affected on Monday noticed a similar smell at 10:15 a.m. yesterday and alerted the staff, Nekoloff said. School officials evacuated all students to the school's gym and cafeteria, which are on separate ventilation systems from the classrooms with the odor, she said.
Parents were notified through the school's alert network. Students either were sent home by bus or with parents.
Nekoloff said she didn't know how much the outside testing will cost the district.
"For the safety of our staff and students, this is what we needed to do," she said.
Prairie Township Fire Chief Stephen M. Feustel reiterated yesterday that the fire department's investigation did not identify the source of the odor. A Columbus hazardous-materials team assisted in the investigation on Monday but left without determining a cause.
"We couldn't pin anything down," he said.
A Columbus battalion chief said on Monday that the likely culprit was sodium hydroxide, or lye, leaking from a school boiler, but Feustel said that was "poor information."
The sodium hydroxide cleaning solution was so diluted that it would not harm anyone even if they touched it, Feustel said.
Dispatch reporter Jim Woods contributed to this story.
Copyright 2012 - The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio
