“You’re not going to school the rest of the week!” », confides a mother to her child and his classmates who are leaving school. This Monday, June 3, 2024, 19 students aged 6 to 11 and one adult suffered from headaches, stomach aches and itching during the lunch break and on the way to the canteen. This is the third time that this situation has occurred in a few days in the town, after the episodes of Thursday May 30 and Friday May 31.
The students were taken into the schoolyard and put on oxygen. Of those affected, ten children were transported to area hospitals because their carbon monoxide levels in their blood were not decreasing. These are primary school pupils who had been dispatched due to the school closing on Monday June 3. “Their state of health, however, does not give cause for concern”said the Marne prefecture in a press release.
From the beginning of the afternoon, parents and grandparents gathered near the Fère-Champenoise primary school. While they waited under a tree, around fifty firefighters were active. Tests carried out on children once again point to a level of carbon monoxide that is too high in the blood. For parents, it’s too much!
“It’s quite anxiety-inducing. My daughter spent the entire night from Friday to Saturday on oxygen in the hospital. This is still the big question mark”, deplores Christelle in front of the Stéphane-Mallarmé college in the town of 2,170 inhabitants. As a preventive measure, children from nursery and elementary schools were dispatched throughout the town: to college, to the association center and to nursery school.
“They would still have to work to find out the origin of the discomfort”
” I am very angry, says Coraline, a mother. I prepared a letter to the rectorate to complain. I plan to file a complaint, I will even hire a lawyer if necessary. We also intend to make a petition. I won’t stop there! Starting tomorrow, my children will no longer go to school, until we know the cause. » Other parents present will also make this choice in the coming days.
Besides the ” fear “ reigns, a question remains: what is the cause of these discomforts? For the moment, neither the firefighters, nor the prefecture, nor the municipality are coming forward. “They would still have to work to find out the origin, underlines Maryline, a worried grandmother. And then, there are things I don’t understand. Some children are affected, others are not. Adults are also affected, but less so. I don’t understand. »
Parents also with symptoms
For her, the best would be to close schools until the end of the school year. “We have to stop school, vacation is in a month”, joins another grandmother. And to add: “The priority is the health of the children. The rest is secondary. Afterwards we say that children are safe at school, well no! » “My daughter is traumatized”specifies yet another mother.
During the afternoon, discussions and hypotheses between the parents continued. One of them comes up in many mouths: the malicious act. The City is not ruling out this plan either.
Classes will continue
On site, Emmanuel Aubert, sub-prefect of the Épernay district, indicated that there will be no stopping of classes this Tuesday. “It’s a social need. Not all parents can keep their children, he judges. The elementary school is closed and the nursery school will close this evening (Monday) to ensure maximum safety. » According to Mayor Gérard Gorisse, 95% of children were present in class on Monday.
At the end of the afternoon, parents who live in the school area began to report headaches and sore throats. Of around ten neighbors interviewed, none indicated having had symptoms in recent days. The mystery remains…
