Mapleton School District Incident – Press Release
Good evening everyone. Thank you for your patience while we collect and analyze the facts from today’s incident.
Today, at approximately 10:21 hours, a student from the Mapleton Middle School, 635 Ashland County Road 801, became ill and ambulated himself to the in-house medical staff at the school. The School Resource Officer was alerted of the student’s condition and assisted medical staff with initial assessment of the student.
During the initial assessment, additional students were reported to have similar symptoms. Symptoms included those associated with a common flu or Carbon Monoxide Exposure; dizziness, lightheaded, cough, tingling of hands and feet. Fire and EMS were notified, which included response from six (6) surrounding fire departments and EMS providers. Additional law enforcement from the Ashland County Sheriff’s Office and Ohio State Highway Patrol were also summoned to the scene to assist with the evacuation of the building.
In excess of 30 students were transported by EMS to seven (7) regional hospitals in five (5) counties. This office is not aware of any life-threatening conditions as a result of this incident.
An investigation was launched by the Ashland County Sheriff’s Office, which is still ongoing. Preliminary facts gleaned from the investigation do not support any criminal element associated with this incident and there is no ongoing threat to the students, staff or building at this time. The building was cleared by local fire service personnel of any immediate threats to the occupants, and the building has been re-opened.
Over 40 law enforcement officers from Ashland, Huron, Medina, Richland and Wayne County Sheriff’s Offices, the Ashland Division of Police and Ohio State Highway Patrol conducted interviews with the students and staff as part of this investigation. Fire Service response included Nankin, Polk, Savanah, Sullivan and Ashland Fire Departments, and Firelands EMS.
My thanks go out to each of these agencies for their swift and professional response to this incident. “Today was a textbook example of how multiple agencies coordinate planning, response and investigating incidents of this magnitude. Everyone involved performed exactly how we train for this type of situation and I’m grateful there were no injuries or mishaps beyond the initial call for service.”
Additional information will be available once the investigation is completed and all information from the assisting agencies has been collected and reviewed.
Kurt J. Schneider
Sheriff
