LATEST: Classes at Johnson Junior High resumed on Tuesday.
Attendance was at 98.4 percent. School district officials said the small number of students who did not attend may not be related to the events connected to the mercury scare.
"Today's attendance numbers were great. We are appreciative of the cooperation of our parents and students," according to CCSD.
Parents received this notice on Monday:
Dear Parents:The EPA has screened and cleared the campus to be reopened.The decision has been made to open Johnson Junior High School tomorrow. Classes will resume tomorrow, Tuesday, September 13, 2016 at regular start time.Parents and students who received phone calls from the school can retrieve their cleared personal items at the front of the school until 6pm today. Remaining items will be available for pick up in the school library tomorrow.Thank you to the EPA, first responders, parents and students for their patience and cooperation.We look forward to seeing students back on campus tomorrow.
13 Action News was there as students returned to school.
Kids are heading back to school. @KTNV pic.twitter.com/7nr668dReJ
— Parker Collins (@parkercollinstv) September 13, 2016
Nervous, excited, jittery-- it's like the first day of school all over again. @KTNV pic.twitter.com/VSC587aafG
— Parker Collins (@parkercollinstv) September 13, 2016
Buses are rolling in now. @KTNV pic.twitter.com/YFmsGHFkwH
— Parker Collins (@parkercollinstv) September 13, 2016
UPDATE: EPA officials are saying upwards of a 1/4 cup of mercury has been found inside Walter Johnson Junior High School so far. They are calling these levels 'significant'.
Walter Johnson Junior High School will remain closed on Sept. 12. The Clark County School District released the following statement:
Dear Parents:The decision has been made to cancel classes at Johnson Junior High School on Monday, September 12, 2016.The safety of students is our top priority and we want to ensure that the school is ready when students do return.The EPA is continuing their work of cleaning and clearing the school.EPA staff will be at the school until 9 p.m. tonight to continue testing personal effects if parents and students choose to bring them to the school for testing.We will follow up with another ParentLink message tomorrow to inform you about classes on Tuesday.Thank you to our families and community for their cooperation and support.
More than 700 bags of personal effects (backpacks, shoes, and other items left behind on Wednesday) have been cleared. The school will continue to contact families as the items are cleared so that they can be picked up. To date, 226 families have been called, and 111 bags have been picked up.Families notified that their belongings are ready for pickup can go to the front of the school between 8 am-9 pm Saturday and Sunday. Families concerns about additional clothing that may have been in contact with the mercury can bring them in a plastic bag to the back of the school for assessment, also from 8 am-9 pm Saturday and Sunday.Nearly 50 families have brought bags of clothes to the school for screening. Of those, 10 bags were kept for further evaluation. The remainder were cleared and sent back with the families.All 7 buses that service the school were assessed and cleared.EPA staff visited 8 homes last night to determine whether any contamination was brought home prior to the mercury discovery on Wednesday, September 7. These were the initial students identified. All 8 homes were assessed and cleared, as they were all below health screening levels. More home visits are being scheduled for this weekend for those students with high levels found on their backpacks or clothing.The school will continue to be cleaned and cleared. Once a determination has been made regarding classes being held at the school on Monday, a ParentLink message will be sent to parents.A representative from the Southern Nevada Health District will be at Johnson Junior High School tomorrow (Sunday) from 8am-12pm to answer parent questions.
ORIGINAL STORY
LAS VEGAS (KTNV) -- Classes were canceled once again for Walter Johnson Jr. High School on Friday as the cleanup continued.
Mercury was discovered at the school earlier this week. The discovery resulted in students being held overnight until they could be screened.
Parents of children in the school are upset about the way the situation was handled.
Clark County School District School Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky spoke to the media on Friday morning about the incident.
CCSD is admitting that some things could have been done differently and they had no idea how long it would take to screen and release the students.
Skorkowsky also said that the mercury that was found at the school on Wednesday could have been there much earlier.
In addition, Skorkowsky said that if parents were concerned about any of their children's clothing or belongings being contaminated, they could bring them to the school to be tested. If cleared, the items will be returned.
This is the sign up at the school now. Testing and work at the school will go well into the night. @KTNV pic.twitter.com/hsNKlkp6K6
— Parker Collins (@parkercollinstv) September 9, 2016
At this time, it is believed that the school will be back in session on Monday.
The EPA is testing students and their belongings for signs of mercury. Parents are being asked to bring in anything the students had at school and brought home, including backpacks, clothes, and bedding. The testing will continue Friday until 10 p.m. at Johnson Junior High, and on Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
