Every major TV News station in Dallas visited Lakewood Elementary over the weekend after Gretchen Stofer Darby, a marketing professional and mother of a Lakewood first-grader, sent out an SOS to local media contacts after consecutive days of several students complaining of headaches and nausea, including hers. Parents’ fears were heightened after dealing with carbon monoxide issues last spring that closed down the school. The Friends of Lakewood dads group placed carbon monoxide detectors at the school to help prevent similar issues.
In response to parent complaints this past week, the district placed professional-grade air-testing devices in classrooms near the clusters of students and staff who had complained of symptoms. The devices were at the school until early this morning testing carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, humidity, temperature and the presence of other unhealthy organic compounds in the air.
“At this time, no harmful or unhealthy readings were found,” the school reported Sunday evening, adding that a third-party environmental contractor has begun conducting its own monitoring.
The district already had scheduled a meeting Tuesday night, Feb. 23, to discuss Lakewood Elementary’s classroom addition and cafeteria expansion; no doubt that questions about the current facility will be asked, too.
