Report reveals chemical odor at Kyrene de la Sierra Elementary School

PHOENIX - A final air quality report has revealed details about the chemical odor that forced Kyrene de la Sierra Elementary School to close last week.

What we know:

The school was shut down following reports of an odor related to roofing repairs. Air samples were taken and sent for testing, and parents expressed their concerns to school officials at a recent board meeting.

"My asthmatic son goes to Kids Club. One Friday I walked in the doors, there were only about 10 children left, and my eyes teared up from the fumes," one parent said.

Another parent added, "I hope all of these chemicals are safe because I'm concerned about the safety of my daughter."

Dig deeper:

An initial report last week found unsafe levels of particulates in the air. The final indoor air quality report, released Tuesday, showed what those particulates were made of.

Dominion Environmental Consultants took a sample from a classroom on Aug. 5 and found high levels of total volatile organic compounds. In their letter to the district, Dominion said that "All compounds with published exposure limits were all well below the established exposure limits."

All categories were normal, except for the "coatings" category, which was noted as "severe."

The school district sent a letter to parents with the update from Dominion, adding that roof work has not yet resumed, and they will keep parents informed of the next steps. A school representative declined to comment on the matter, citing pending or potential litigation.

FOX 10 also learned that no asbestos was found on campus.

What they're saying:

Will Humble, director of the Arizona Public Health Association, has worked in public health for more than 35 years and has dealt with several situations of poor air quality inside schools. He was not involved in this case but, looking at the report, reading news articles, and drawing from his experience, he believes this is indicative of chemicals involved in the school’s roofing project.

He says roofing projects typically happen in the summer, weeks before students arrive, because the materials inside the roofing tar have a process called "off gassing," an emitting of chemicals. He says that happens faster in the summer because of the heat.

He thinks that is why the Dominion report found severe levels of coating products and materials, described as sealants, paints, and varnish.

"Well when it off gasses really fast — guess what? That means any of the fresh air intake gets put into the air conditioning system is going to put those compounds into the breathable air for the students and the teachers — and that's what looks like happened here," Humble said.

Humble says it's hard to tell if there will be any long-term effects, as several individual factors, like a child's health or vulnerabilities, can make a difference.

He says that generally, the longer you are exposed to those hydrocarbons, the more likely it is for people with conditions like asthma to have reactions.

"What happened here, is the contractors were using a tarry substance that had some what we call aliphatic hydrocarbons — or basically, it's not hydrogen or diesel, but hydrocarbons like hydrogen or diesel that were used as part of the tarring process on the roof," Humble said.

While the recommended level of exposure for these coating particles is 500 nanograms per liter in the report, there were 14,000 in the classroom. The report says that within this range, it's possible people inside the room can feel the effects.

The good news, Humble said, is he did not find any cancer-causing chemicals in the report.

"Root cause analysis: It's not a bad thing they were fixing the roof — it's a good thing they were fixing the roof. What's bad is they didn't plan in advance to make sure it was completed long enough before the start of the school year so it wouldn't infiltrate into the HVAC system and make an unpleasant environment for the students and the faculty," Humble said.