Covington Middle School will remain open; problems may be citywide

COVINGTON, Va. (WDBJ) - Alleghany Highlands Public Schools says there is no safety issue that rises to the level of closing Covington Middle School (CMS), after a lawsuit was filed, urging the school to be shut down temporarily. The district plans to keep staff and students in the school.

That announcement was made at a Thursday news conference, which can be watched at the bottom of this story.

At the same time, the Virginia Department of Health reports a baseline level of carboxyhemoglobin in Covington itself, and is working to find the source of that, but says it’s not associated with the middle school and it doesn’t appear to be a significant public health threat.

The Department of Environmental Quality is looking at potential sources and whether there’s an environmental source, but says at this point, it doesn’t appear a nearby paper mill is an issue.

The news conference was in response to a gas leak in January that led to several weeks of virtual learning, plus checks of HVAC systems and installation of carbon monoxide detectors, followed by another detected odor in March. Both instances led students to get medical checkups because of a variety of symptoms.

At the news conference Thursday, district officials said they continue working with experts on air quality concerns and continue working to ensure air quality is good at the school. They say they are confident that after multiple rounds of testing and work with specialists, there is no carbon monoxide issue in CMS.

They reported a ventilation issue that helped them notice they need to keep air flowing evenly on campus, and that may have led to elevated CO2 levels in some classrooms, some of which are the same in which odors have been reported. They plan to upgrade the ventilation system and temporary window units.

District officials say Carbon dioxide levels are well below OSHA regulations, and they still don’t know the source of the original odor, but it wasn’t CO2 or dioxide.

School district officials say they recognize the critical importance of transparency, leading to this news conference:

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