FAMILIES were appalled to learn some students at a summer school program were served floor sealant rather than milk with one of their meals.
Twelve students and three adults ingested up to 3oz of floor sealant after it was mistaken for milk.
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According to a statement from the Juneau School District, on June 14, a box of shelf-stable milk was supposed to be delivered to NANA Management Services employees at the Sít’ Eetí Shaanáx – Glacier Valley School.
Rather, they got a box of floor sealant.
An NMS employee at the school was preparing meals when they poured what should have been milk into cups and placed them on trays with the students’ meals.
Soon after the students had started eating they began to complain that the “milk” tasted bad and burned their throats and mouths.
Staff “immediately followed up by smelling/tasting the milk and looking at the container/label,” the statement said.
Once they realized what was happening, they contacted poison control and followed all the steps that were suggested to them.
The statement goes on to say parents were called and notified, but “there was a delay in parents notification which was longer than it should have been.”
Students were monitored by staff and others were taken by parents for medical treatment at Bartlett Regional Hospital or their medical provider.
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As of Wednesday evening, all students were recovering and some were fully recovered.
Donna Baldwin picked up her grandson after the incident. He asked her if he was going to die.
“The more I process, the madder I get that it was not immediately taken care of. If I was there, I would have called medical right away,” she told KTOO.
“This was minimized, and it’s not okay.”
Although staff at an emergency room said he would be okay, the boy did not return to school the next day because he still felt dizzy and nauseous.
The district says in 2021 a pallet of Hillyard Seal 341 was mistakenly delivered to the district’s food warehouse at the same time as four pallets of shelf-stable milk.
The district says this is where the mix-up came from, and the rest of the sealant has been removed from the premises.
On Wednesday, the State of Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Food Safety and Sanitation Office inspected the facilities, and DEC approved the facility for continuing operations.
The US Sun reached out to the school superintendent Bridget Weiss but did not hear back by the time of publication.
