NANKIN — Jessy Efaw and her husband, Anthony, were at work when they got chilling news.
Their daughter, Savannah Keaton — a senior at Mapleton High School — had been transported to OhioHealth Hospital in Mansfield. With no other information, the couple jumped into the car and began the nearly one-hour drive south.
It wasn’t until they were on the road that Jessy Efaw realized she had a missed call with a voicemail. (Jessy Efaw’s employer, a food manufacturer, does not allow phones on the floor during work hours.) It was from Mercy Health in Willard — their youngest daughter, Isabella Efaw, was there.
Both of their healthy daughters had mysteriously fallen ill enough to land in separate hospitals on a school day.
The Efaws would later discover their daughters were two of dozens of Mapleton middle and high school students that had become sick. Students’ symptoms included headaches, dizziness, tingling toes, nausea and difficulty breathing.
The illnesses prompted school officials to evacuate both the adjoined middle and high school buildings on Aug. 29. Classes resumed Sept. 2 following the long weekend and several environmental tests returning negative in and around the building.
The cause for illnesses in students remains under investigation.
But some parents have criticized the district for its lack of communication during the incident, with several reporting they did not know their children had been transported to a hospital.
Hours before the Efaws learned of their daughters’ hospitalizations, the middle school’s nurse talked to a 911 dispatcher. The nearly six minute call, according to Ashland County Sheriff’s records, came in at 10:23 a.m. It was about a 13-year-old boy who had told the nurse he couldn’t feel his feet.
At the time, the nurse gave the boy some ice and sent him back to class.
“Then, his teacher called and said, ‘He’s laying on the floor. He feels like he’s gonna pass out. He’s not really talking to anybody.’ So, that’s kinda where we’re at,” the nurse told a dispatcher.
Just under an hour later, an ACSO deputy requested another squad. This time, it was for “a middle school student that hit their head twice while in in the cafeteria line.” The call came in at 11:09 a.m.
By 11:35 a.m., officials began to suspect a gas leak. The chief for the Savannah Volunteer Fire Company requested firefighters check the gas meter.
And by 11:44 a.m., emergency personnel was notified the middle and high school was being evacuated “for possible gas leak.” Between then and 12:24 p.m., officials said there were 15 patients experiencing symptoms that included light headedness, nausea, headaches, numbness to the arms and one student reportedly had a seizure.
At 12:24 p.m., the school reportedly sent out a text to parents and guardians “to come get the kids,” according to a call-for-service document from the Ashland County Sheriff’s Office. The pickup area was the high school parking lot, with a checkpoint area at the basketball court.
Deputies were cleared for other duties by 4:17 p.m.
In all, law enforcement reported sending 43 students to seven hospitals across five counties. Some remained hospitalized for roughly six hours before being released.
The Efaws and other Mapleton parents have labeled the mysterious incident — which remains under investigation by school, emergency and public health personnel — as a “big time communication failure.”
‘Things didn’t line up at all’
Lexi Parks, 42, of Polk, said she was lucky.
“I just happened to know the right people at the school,” she said.
Parks said she learned from a friend who has a son in middle school that her 12 year-old daughter, Evie, was one of the students being taken to the hospital. The friend’s son had broken district policy by calling his mom and reporting that “kids are passing out” and that she needed to come get him.
Mapleton School District implemented a policy in 2019 that prohibits cell phone or electronic device use during instructional time.
Shortly after her friend called her, Parks received the district’s message that urged parents to pick up their children because the entire middle and high school population was being evacuated.
“But then it also said there’s nothing to be concerned about, something like that. Things didn’t line up at all,” Parks said.
However, the message did not contain any specific information about where affected students had been transported and there were no additional details surrounding the incident, Parks said. She picked up her 6th grade child — who didn’t experience any symptoms — and then made the 24-minute drive to Cleveland Clinic Akron General Lodi Hospital.
Parks has been a parent of the district for 15 years; her two older children have already graduated. She said transparency from the district has “never been great.”
Parks said she understands that it isn’t possible to contact every single parent in the moment.
“But there needs to be systems in place to have parents know where their kids were going,” she said. “And the downplaying of it all — it made me very angry. Thankfully this was not a mass casualty event. But I have no confidence that they can handle something bigger. (District officials) displayed total incompetence,” she said.
What happened?
Mapleton’s superintendent, Scott Smith, did not respond to an Ashland Source reporter’s specific questions related to parents’ communications criticisms.
The district has issued statements released to parents and the public via its communication app, social media and website.
District officials still don’t know what happened.
Its latest message, posted Sunday, stated that 33 officials representing school, heath, fire and law enforcement personnel met Sept. 4 to “debrief the emergency response.”
Together, they concluded there were no irregularities in the district’s food services, water quality, chemicals and cleaning products, classroom activities, deliveries and other general operations.
The sheriff’s office also concluded there was no criminal activity that contributed to the illnesses.
The Ashland County Health Department “has not identified one single cause of the illnesses at this time, but ACHD’s epidemiologist will continue to monitor any new medical information that becomes available.”
Columbia Gas, district maintenance and local fire departments inspected the buildings on Aug. 29 and again on Sept. 1. Those people didn’t find any leaks and “determined all gas appliances and equipment were in working order.” Another entity, CCG Automation, did not find abnormal carbon dioxide levels in the heating, venting and cooling systems.
Moving forward, the district vowed to “review and strengthen” its emergency operations plan.”
“In light of this incident, particular attention will be given to procedures and protocols related to building evacuation, relocation with student and staff attendance, and parent reunification. Additionally, communication among district staff, students, parents, law enforcement and first responders will be carefully evaluated, with improvements expected in procedures, protocols, technologies and support services,” reads the district’s statement published on Sept. 7.