COVINGTON, Va. (WVDN) – In the wake of a carbon monoxide scare that forced the evacuation of Covington Middle School last week, the Alleghany Highlands Public School Board held a tense and emotional meeting Monday evening, vowing to investigate the incident thoroughly and make necessary improvements to ensure the safety of students and staff. The meeting, originally scheduled as a budget hearing, was restructured to allow the public, including parents, teachers, and concerned community members to voice their questions and concerns about the Jan. 31 incident, in which a suspicious odor prompted the evacuation of the school.
Superintendent Kim Halterman opened the meeting with a detailed account of the district’s crisis response, explaining that as per the school system’s robust crisis management plan, she took charge of commanding the crisis team. “I am the person behind the scenes who is giving orders and ensuring that a variety of functions happen,” Halterman told the gathered community. “Those functions include making sure people are ultimately safe and that we’re thinking about all possible angles.”
Halterman reported that she personally contacted the Virginia Department of Health and the local health department director to coordinate the response. She also deployed central office staff to the scene to assess the situation and relay information back.
Chief Chris Smith of the Covington Police Department provided further details on the investigation, explaining that while the initial response on Friday did not identify the source of the odor, a more thorough examination on Sunday revealed a faulty oven in the school’s kitchen was emitting elevated levels of carbon monoxide.
“We did a preliminary check that day on Sunday and on the initial examination, we didn’t find anything,” Smith said. “Oxygen levels were normal on each one of the floors that we went to, we went into every room, not just the ones that reported the smell.”
It wasn’t until the kitchen area was examined more closely that the issue was discovered. Smith said the ventilation system in the kitchen was also found to be malfunctioning, allowing the odorless, colorless gas to build up. Jason Elmore of the Virginia Department of Emergency Management confirmed the findings, explaining that the oven was not burning the gas properly, leading to the production of carbon monoxide.
“Carbon monoxide is not just randomly in natural gas,” Elmore said. “Carbon monoxide is produced by incomplete combustion. What was happening is the gas was being burned by the oven. It was not burning properly, not efficiently. So, carbon monoxide was being produced.”
The investigations findings sparked outrage from parents and teachers, who questioned why the school did not have functioning carbon monoxide detectors, as required by Virginia law for all public school buildings constructed before 2015. “I have a child in this school. I am deeply concerned about the ongoing health issues affecting my child and other students at CMS,” said parent Amanda Tomasek. “My seventh-grade daughter has experienced persistent headaches and fatigue since the start of the school year. Her symptoms disappeared over the Christmas break, raising concerns that something in the school environment may be causing her illness.”
Lorri Saville, a teacher at the middle school, expressed her own health concerns, stating that her blood work showed elevated carbon monoxide levels. “I just came from having my blood work done, and my blood work is at 2.7, it’s supposed to be no more than 1.5 and this is how many days after the evacuation?” Saville said. “I’ll ask you another question. Does the school board office have carbon monoxide detectors? That’s a question I’d like answered,” Saville asked, clearly still scared and upset.
Board members acknowledged the absence of carbon monoxide detectors as a significant issue and vowed to address it, with one member, Mr. Franson, stating bluntly: “Who’s responsible? That question was asked, we are responsible.”
Several other board members echoed the sentiment, promising a thorough investigation and review of the crisis response, as well as a commitment to improving safety protocols and communication with the community. “We are responsible, and what we’re doing here tonight is part of that responsibility, and that will include going through things sort of as an after-action review,” said board member Jay Woodson.
The meeting also highlighted the deep mistrust and frustration felt by some parents and teachers towards the school administration, with several speakers accusing officials of withholding information and failing to adequately address previous safety concerns. David Clark, a parent, questioned the responsibility and accountability for the safety of the school building, asking, “If the administration is so confident that the issue has been resolved. I recommend a temporary virtual learning option for our students, ideally for the next month.”
The deeply concerned teacher, Mrs. Saville, expressed her own disappointment and anger, stating that she and her colleagues felt they had “failed” to keep the children safe, even though she knows it’s not their fault, they still feel that way. “We should have been able to keep these children safe, because on that day, at 9:20 a phone call went in that There’s a weird smell up here. Multiple times throughout that incident phone calls went in, teachers were going and checking, calling, trying to get something done but there was nothing,” said Saville.
In response, board members acknowledged the valid concerns raised by the public and pledged to be more transparent and communicative going forward. They encouraged community members to continue providing feedback and information to aid in the ongoing investigation and improvement efforts.
The board also approved a calendar update, changing the previously scheduled non-student day on Feb. 17 to a student day, in an effort to preserve instructional time that has been lost due to the incident and other disruptions. Despite the tense atmosphere, several board members expressed gratitude for the first responders and school staff who worked tirelessly to address the crisis, with one member, Mr. Arritt, acknowledging the personal toll such events take on him as a parent, stated that while she wasn’t in the school that day, his daughter was in the school when it was put on lockdown and that. “Daddy bear, mamas don’t get the monopoly on that. Daddy bears exist too. Daddy Bear wanted to jump the railroad tracks and come over here. Forget about me being a school board member. That’s what I wanted to do as a dad,” Arritt said.
As the meeting drew to a close, board members reiterated their commitment to transparency and accountability, “We are responsible, and we will do what we have to do to make things as good as we can going forward.” Mr. Arritt said. The Alleghany Highlands Public School Board’s response to the carbon monoxide incident has underscored the importance of prioritizing student and staff safety, as well as the need for clear and effective communication with the community. As the investigation continues, the board faces the challenge of rebuilding trust and ensuring that such incidents do not occur again in the future.
Kevin Booze speaks to the board while holding a picture of his daughter who is a student at Covington Middle School (Christopher Mentz photo)
