A mystery illness has been making staff members sick at an Arlington junior high school for more than two months now. The Tarrant County Health Department has been looking into this and NBC 5 obtained the results of the investigation so far.
The health department interviewed roughly 60 staff members at Nichols Junior High School, many of whom have had symptoms like headaches, dizziness, tingling and nausea. It's still not clear exactly how many have gotten sick.
The health department still doesn't know the cause but says the school does not need to be evacuated. They're "hypothesizing" that this may be related to sewer gas exposure, though that’s not confirmed.
The Arlington Independent School District recently found and repaired a small sewer line leak but symptoms continued after that.
The memo also says AISD is addressing concerns appropriately but needs to keep watching the situation.
Along with monitoring the building and any ongoing symptoms, the school district is running continuous air quality tests through an outside lab, checking the heating and air conditioning systems and buying a new copier for the office, because some people think the old one is causing problems.
Steven Poole, executive director of the United Educators Association, says the staff is desperately looking for anything that could be making so many people sick.
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"They're scared and they're frustrated too," Poole said. "They're wanting a definitive answer of what's causing these symptoms, but as of yet, the experts the district has hired haven't been able to pinpoint one certain thing that is causing it."
One puzzling piece is that it's mostly staff members – not students – getting sick. Poole told NBC 5 that a lot of the symptoms are being reported around the front office and the kitchen, where you'll generally find more staff than students.
There is an all-staff meeting after school Friday at Nichols Junior High, and Tarrant County Health Department representatives will be on hand to answer any questions.
