U-46 schools reopen after Legionella bacteria scare
Three Elgin Area School District U-46 buildings reopened Monday after being closed for three days last week since high levels of the bacteria that can cause Legionnaires' disease were found.
Eastview Middle School in Bartlett, Larkin High School in Elgin and the district's Educational Services Center housing the central office and Gifford Street High School programs in Elgin were evacuated last Wednesday morning after abnormally high levels of the Legionella bacteria were detected in water cooling towers. The buildings remained closed Thursday and Friday.
About 3,000 students and roughly 350 staff members returned to those buildings Monday.
"Things have gone really smoothly," district spokeswoman Mary Fergus said.
Officials conducted community forums at Larkin and Eastview Sunday to assure parents the buildings were safe.
"We had about five parents that came at Larkin High School and 15 parents at Eastview. We went through what happened and the whole process," Fergus said.
Robert Tiballi, head of infection control at Advocate Sherman Hospital, also was present to allay concerns about bacteria levels, she said.
According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, a normal, safe level of the Legionella bacteria is 1,000 of colony-forming units per milliliter, or CFU/mL. Test results received last Wednesday showed Eastview was at 1,480 CFU/mL, Larkin at 940 CFU/mL and the Educational Services Center/Gifford Street High School at 1,350 CFU/mL, per a district news release.
The district this year added the legionella bacteria test based on a recommendation from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers.
Officials said the district "followed and exceeded all industry cleaning protocol" in taking steps to rid the system of the bacteria.
The district has performed a "shock" of all 19 cooling towers by draining and flushing them with four times the recommended level of cleaning/disinfecting agents, and descaling or removal of any hard water deposits in the towers, officials said.
The water in the cooling system is separate from drinking water.
Nineteen of the district's 53 schools have cooling towers that require testing; the other schools have different cooling systems.
"Next year, we will look at more frequent sanitizing, more frequent testing," Fergus said.