Portola Elementary School students sickened by chemicals released during a training exercise at a nearby San Bruno jail last week experienced more severe symptoms than were initially reported, with some even requiring emergency medical care, according to the school district superintendent.
The chemical agents, including pepper spray and 2-chlorobenzylidene malononitrile, a common form of tear gas, were released during a crowd control and intervention training exercise on May 21 at the San Francisco County Jail in San Bruno, according to the San Francisco Sheriff’s Office. They reached Portola Elementary School, about half a mile away.
Officials initially reported that 20 students and one teacher were sickened. However, nearly 30 students reported symptoms such as watery eyes, coughing, wheezing and trouble breathing at the time of the incident, San Bruno Park School District Superintendent Matthew Duffy said in a statement on Thursday. The school later determined that over the following days, students experienced more severe symptoms, including upset stomach, vomiting and rashes.
“More than a week later, we still have some students who are suffering adverse effects from the exposure to the tear gas and pepper spray dispersed into the air that day,” Duffy said in a statement to KQED.
During a two-hour town hall meeting with school officials and the sheriff’s office on Tuesday night, parents criticized a lack of communication after the chemical exposure, saying they pieced together what had happened only after multiple wrote in an online forum that their children were experiencing similar symptoms, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.