Three closed school buildings in Elgin District U46 reopened Monday morning after a bacteria scare closed them for three days last week.
The closings had affected Larkin High School in Elgin, Eastview Middle School in Streamwood and the district’s Educational Services Center (ESC) in downtown Elgin, which houses both U46’s central offices and its Gifford Street/Central alternative schools. District CEO Tony Sanders abruptly ordered them closed Wednesday morning after lab reports showed high levels of the bacteria Legionellas in their air-conditioning cooling-tower water.
That genus of bacteria can cause Legionnaires disease, an often-fatal form of pneumonia spread by water droplets in the air.
The closings were extended for two more days as district officials hired an environmental company to disinfect the cooling towers serving those three buildings and also 16 other schools that have similar air-conditioning systems but did not show high levels of the bacteria.
During question-and-answer forums held Sunday at Larkin and Eastview, U46 officials and infectious disease specialist Dr. Robert Tiballi of Elgin assured parents and students that the risk of them catching Legionnaires disease from the cooling towers is very small.
Officials have not yet determined the cost of the closure or whether the 3,000 students involved will have to attend extra days of class to make up for the closing, as they would following a snow day.
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