Parents at a Long Beach elementary school kept their children home and staged a protest Friday, refusing to accept district assurances that a mysterious illness cluster in one fourth-grade classroom has been resolved.
Roughly 30 parents and children gathered outside Monroe Elementary School, which is temporarily housing students from nearby Patrick Henry Elementary during campus upgrades. The demonstration targeted what families describe as an information blackout about symptoms including headaches, nosebleeds, fatigue and dizziness that have hit multiple children and their teacher.
“They’re just keeping us in the dark,” said Ricky Marengo, whose daughter has suffered headaches, in remarks to the Long Beach Post. He said the district only released the full environmental testing report after parents complained.
Katie Jakemer, another parent, amplified the frustration on her social media. “We have EIGHT more months of school, and we deserve to send our kids to school with zero doubts that there is cause for concern,” she wrote.
The Long Beach Unified School District acknowledged in a letter to families that the classroom teacher experienced dizziness and that four students suffered nosebleeds. The district hired an outside company to test the classroom environment, and the resulting report flagged temperatures as high as 102.6 degrees, elevated humidity and low levels of certain pollutants including carbon monoxide.
Jakemer questioned whether the inspection was thorough enough. She noted that the report itself recommended follow-up mold sampling, and she claimed that boxes and paper materials were not moved during the inspection. “This issue is not resolved,” she said.
The district, however, pointed to the absence of indoor mold sources or water damage evidence as grounds for closing the matter. “Given that the report found no indoor source of mold or evidence of water damage, the District does not plan further testing at this time,” the district said in a statement.
The response failed to satisfy families, who are demanding additional testing and a second opinion from an independent expert. Some parents indicated they would continue keeping their children out of school until they receive satisfactory answers about the source of the symptoms.
“I want to be able to drop her off and know she’s safe,” parent Sofiya Tormo said of her daughter.
Despite the ongoing parent protest, the district confirmed that some students who had been temporarily relocated from the affected classroom would return Monday.
The illness cluster has been concentrated in a single fourth-grade classroom at the Monroe campus, where Patrick Henry Elementary students are being housed during construction work on their home school. The temporary arrangement is scheduled to continue for the remainder of the academic year.