LeRoy, N.Y. - More air quality monitoring is expected at LeRoy Junior-Senior High School in the coming weeks.
Superintendent Kim Cox said the district retained Leader Professional Services, Inc. to evaluate each area of the building to provide assurance to parents and the community that the building is safe.
The public was informed of the decision for additional testing at a meeting at the high school Saturday morning.
Some believe environmental factors may be the cause of a mysterious Tourette's-like illness affecting more than a dozen students. However, county and state health reports do not show any dangerous environmental or infectious factors.
"If I had any indication that there was anything in this building that was not safe for children, they would not be here," said Cox.
No date has been set for further testing, but when it begins, it will include 24-hour monitoring, after-hours. The firm will test for carbon monoxide, temperature, relative humidity, carbon dioxide, formaldehyde, fungi, and various volatile organic compounds.
"The method we're going to use going forward is called a mini-can. It's going to capture air over a longer period of time, and it's going to give us 61 individual chemical compounds to look at," said Mary Ellen Holvey of Leader Professional Services.
Once air quality testing is complete, results will take about two weeks. Then the firm will decide whether or not soil testing should be completed.
The district could not provide a cost for testing because it hasn't yet been determined exactly how much testing will be done.
Some at Saturday's meeting asked about an orange substance sometimes found on the playing fields behind the school.
The Superintendent said the school has looked into it and determined it to be a non-toxic rust fungi.
Also, the district and the environmental firm haven't ruled out soil and air testing around natural gas wells on the property.