3 Elgin-area schools to stay closed Thursday after Legionella bacteria found

Story was updated Sept. 24 to note that district officials performed an annual test of water quality levels at its schools.

Three Elgin-area school buildings will remain closed Thursday after high levels of the bacteria that can cause Legionnaires' disease were found in schools' cooling systems.

Eastview Middle School in Bartlett, Larkin High School in Elgin and the Educational Services Center, which holds the central office and Gifford Street High School programs, were evacuated Wednesday morning after abnormally high levels of Legionella bacteria were detected in the buildings' water cooling towers, said Tony Sanders, Elgin Area School District U-46 CEO.

All other U-46 facilities will remain open Thursday, U-46 officials said. The three affected buildings are expected to reopen Friday.

"We have absolutely no evidence that our students have been exposed to anything harmful," Sanders said.

The abnormal bacteria level was detected during an annual quality test of water in the cooling systems, he said.

Results indicated that bacteria levels at Eastview and Gifford Street were above 1,000 colony-forming units per milliliter, which, by Occupational Safety and Health Administration standards, calls for emergency action to be taken, Sanders said. Larkin's levels came in at 940, he said.

Sanders said he immediately chose to close the buildings "until we can get those systems sanitized."

The bacteria discovered were limited to the buildings' cooling systems. There are 19 buildings in the district that have similar systems, all of which were sanitized and disinfected Wednesday, he said. That process will be repeated at all 19 buildings Thursday as a precautionary step, Sanders said.

"This is not something we ever take lightly," Sanders said. "All we can do is err on the side of caution." But he added, "The fear of danger for students or staff is very minimal."

Sanders said there have been no reports of any "confirmed or suspicious illness" among students or staff members.

Dr. Robert Tiballi, an infectious disease specialist with Advocate Sherman Hospital, said parents should not be overly concerned with the exposure their children may have had to the bacteria. Only people with severely compromised immune systems or advanced lung disease, or who have smoked for a long time have cause for concern, he said.

"The reality is the students have been around this for a while already," Tiballi said. "In retrospect, they'll probably find that nobody got sick."

School staff members would be more likely to develop complications from the exposure, Tiballi said. But, again, that applies only to staffers who already have severe lung problems.

"I don't want to say that the school district shouldn't have evacuated the buildings, but it was probably done more out of an abundance of caution," Tiballi said.

The bacteria can be remediated quickly with a super-chlorinated cleaning of the cooling towers, Tiballi said, noting that such bacteria are much easier to remove than mold.

Anyone who does get sick from the exposure would see a low-grade fever and, possibly, diarrhea. That will transform into a fever running possibly as high as 104 degrees. With antibiotics, the fever should break in about 24 hours, Tiballi said.

Eastview students were taken to Bartlett High School, to be picked up by parents, and Gifford Street students were taken to Elgin High School, Sanders said.

District safety coordinator John Heiderscheidt said most of those students were picked up by 12:30 p.m.

Larkin students were dismissed with instructions to walk home or wait outside for buses to take them home, he said.

Larkin Principal Jon Tuin said evacuations seemed to go smoothly, thanks to help from the district and school staff and administrators.

"I'm just really glad that everyone responded so well," he said. "I was really grateful to see everyone work together to make the best of this situation."

• Daily Herald staff writer James Fuller contributed to this report.