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Alaska elementary school gave students floor sealant instead of milk for breakfast
Students began complaining that their milk tasted bad and was burning their mouths
June 16, 2022 11:56am
Updated: June 16, 2022 1:46pm
A dozen students in an elementary school in Alaska drank were served a hazardous floor sealant instead of milk for their breakfast, school officials announced on Wednesday.
Students were at the Sitʼ Eeti Shaanáx Glacier Valley Elementary School summer program were reportedly served breakfast at around 8:45 a.m., according to a statement from the Juneau School District website.
“All breakfast components were served by NANA Management Services (NMS) staff and placed on food service trays, which students brought to a cafeteria table to consume,” continued the statement.
Not long after, students began complaining that their milk tasted bad and was burning their mouths.
“Juneau School District (JSD) RALLY and NMS staff immediately followed up by smelling/tasting the milk and looking at the container/label. It was found that the "milk" served was actually a floor sealant resembling liquid milk,” the statement added.
The staff immediately removed the chemicals and placed it in storage. The parents of the students who drank the floor sealant were informed.
So far, one student has had to receive medical treatment. Two other students who were also picked up may have also sought medical help. The condition of the students is unknown.
The mink and the sealant were both stored at a district commodity storage off-campus. District superintendent Bridget Weiss believes that the boxes of sealant were “stored or moved on the same pallet as large pouches of milk that were also in cardboard boxes.”
“We don’t know how that happened, but they were all put on the same pallet,” she said. “That pallet was delivered, and the assumption was that it was milk because that’s what we thought was being delivered.”
JSD, City, Borough of Juneau, NMS, and Juneau police department are conducting an investigation of the incident.
The police do not suspect “anything criminal or mal-intent at this point, but we do want a thorough investigation of what happened, how it happened,” Weiss added.
