Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire
This photo shows Sít’ Eetí Shaanáx - Glacier Valley School on Tuesday evening. The school is one of three sites of the Juneau School District’s RALLY program. On Tuesday, children were served floor sealant instead of milk during breakfast at the school’s RALLY site.

Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire This photo shows Sít’ Eetí Shaanáx - Glacier Valley School on Tuesday evening. The school is one of three sites of the Juneau School District’s RALLY program. On Tuesday, children were served floor sealant instead of milk during breakfast at the school’s RALLY site.

Superintendent: Pouches of milk, chemicals delivered side-by-side

“That’s when the beginning of this mismatch began,” she said.

Fourteen people, including 12 kids, apparently drank chemical floor sealant instead of milk Tuesday morning during a summer program at an elementary school because large pouches of the chemical were stacked on the same pallet as boxes containing large pouches of milk, Juneau School District Superintendent Bridget Weiss said Wednesday.

“That’s when the beginning of this mismatch began,” she said.

[Officials: 12 kids ingested floor sealant served as milk durring summer program]

There’s still plenty of remaining questions and plenty of angry parents demanding answers following the incident at Sít’ Eeti Shaanáx – Glacier Valley Elementary School. But aside from expecting those who drank the fluid to be fully recovered by Thursday morning, Weiss said school, food service and police officials are still trying to determine how the switch happened and what actions may be taken as a result.

“We’ve been in contact with the 12 families who’ve been impacted,” she said. “So far it seems (the children) are recovering fine.”

The liquid was Hillyard Seal 341, which according to a safety data sheet is “expected to be a low ingestion hazard.” Weiss said there is typically a 48-hour window for people who’ve ingested it to show symptoms.

The breakfast was served as part of the school’s RALLY program, one of three local school sites for the program that serves students ages 5-12. The other two schools were unaffected, and Weiss said the incident is being treated as an isolated situation, although safeguards and possible future precautions are resulting.

“We had a food inspector go to the kitchen this morning and check on all the protocols to make sure everything was up to standards,” she said, noting inspections were also conducted at the other two kitchens.

District officials are also considering substituting the hot breakfasts with grab-and-go meals that would include cartons of milk rather than a bulk dispenser, if the resources exist, Weiss said.

The meals are being served by NANA Management Services. Dawn Kimberlin, the company’s vice president of marketing and communications, stated in an email interview Wednesday the company is working closely with the district to determine the cause of the mix-up.

“We immediately dispatched our safety team to Juneau,” she wrote. “We are in the midst of a comprehensive internal investigation that will look at every contributing factor to determine exactly what happened and to identify potential safety measures.”

The Juneau Police Department is the lead investigator in the incident, Weiss said. As of Wednesday afternoon the matter had not been classified as a criminal investigation.

Numerous parents of students who ingested the solvent as well as parents other youths in the program expressed anger in forums ranging from local social media sites to national news publications about aspects of the incident, including the district taking a few hours to notify parents rather than doing so immediately. Weiss said the district is trying to update parents regularly, but “our first priority is those families who are impacted.”

“We are focusing on them as our top priority as we are explaining to them what we know about what happened and the risks of the specific chemical,” she said. “Also we’re rolling out communications to all summer program families and to all RALLY families. It takes a little time to get through those.”

Contact reporter Mark Sabbatini at mark.sabbatini@juneauempire.com.

More in News

(Juneau Empire File)
Aurora forecast for the week of Nov. 27

These forecasts are courtesy of the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Geophysical Institute… Continue reading

A Capital City Fire/Rescue truck parks outside the main entrance of the Riverview Senior Living complex Monday after Nathan Bishop, 58, is found alive in the attic 40 hours after being reported missing from the facility where he is a resident. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
State reviewing Riverview Senior Living after missing resident found in attic 40 hours later

Officials unaware of similar cases in Alaska; facility says steps to prevent such incidents underway

Search and rescue officials examine the area about 11 miles south of the center of Wrangell where a landslide occurred on Nov. 20. Five people are confirmed dead from the landslide and one still missing. (Photo courtesy of Alaska Department of Public Safety)
Body of fifth Wrangell landslide victim found; one person still missing

Otto Florschutz, 65, found Thursday evening; Derek Heller, 12, still missing among family of five.

Varieties of kelp are seen underwater. A U.S. Department of Energy-funded project will investigate whether kelp and other seaweed in the waters off Alaska’s Prince of Wales Island can absorb significant amounts of rare earth elements that leach out from the Bokan Mountain site. (National Marine Sanctuary photo provided by NOAA)
Federally funded project will search for rare earth elements in Southeast Alaska seaweed

What if prized rare earth elements could be extracted from seaweed, avoiding… Continue reading

Angie Flick (center), finance director for the City and Borough of Juneau, provides details of an early draft of next year’s municipal budget to Assembly members as City Manager Katie Koester (left) and Budget Manager Adrien Wendel listen during a Finance Committee meeting Wednesday night in the Assembly Chambers. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Assembly members prepare to retreat so they can move ahead on next year’s budget

“Very draft” $190 million spending plan for FY25 based on status quo has $1 million deficit.

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire File)
Police calls for Monday, Nov. 27, 2023

This report contains public information from law enforcement and public safety agencies.

The front page of the Juneau Empire on Nov. 30, 2005. (Photo by Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Empire Archives: Juneau’s history for the week of Dec. 3

Three decades of capital city coverage.

Cheyenne Latu (left), a pharmacy technician at Ron’s Apothecary Shoppe, and business co-owner Gretchen Watts hang a poster at the front counter Thursday announcing the store’s closure after Dec. 6 as Jessica Kirtley, another pharmacy technician, works at the front register. The nearby Safeway supermarket has agreed to take the prescriptions of all customers as well as hire all of the independent pharmacy’s employees, according to the co-owners who are retiring. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Ron’s Apothecary Shoppe closing after nearly 50 years as co-owners retire; last day is Dec. 6

Safeway taking over all prescriptions and offering jobs to all employees, according to owners.

Attendees at the Friends of NRA — Juneau’s banquet in 2019 talk near auction tables at Centennial Hall. The fundraising event is resuming Saturday after a four-year COVID-19 disruption. (Photo courtesy of Friends of NRA — Juneau)
Friends of NRA — Juneau fundraising banquet returns Saturday after four-year pandemic absence

New Zealand hunting safari, signed Ted Nugent guitar among items being offered.

Most Read