Atlanta school evacuated after several students report breathing problems

ATLANTA — Officials evacuated KIPP Ways Academy in Atlanta Wednesday after some students reported breathing problems and passed out.

Channel 2's Tyisha Fernandes is at the charter school, where the Atlanta Fire Department initially thought it was a gas leak and evacuated the building.

The air quality has since been determined to be safe, and students were let back into the school around 2 p.m.

Officials said they never found any dangerous chemicals in the air or evidence of a gas leak.

Fernandes talked to Constance Montford, who has twin granddaughters in eighth grade at the school. One called and said something was making their classmates pass out.

"One of them said they came out in the hallway and kids just started falling out," Montford said. "So she started crying. So I don't know what it was, but something was coming through the vent and the kids were just falling out."

When Montford came to the school to get her grandkids, dozens of students, teachers and fire officials were outside.

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Officials said at about a dozen kids had respiratory problems and said they couldn't breathe

Fire officials treated them on the spot and the symptoms quickly disappeared. None of them were taken to the hospital.

Luckily, there is a fire station on Temple Street right across from the school, so fire officials were able to test the air quickly.

"We went through the entire school with monitors and did not discover any type of signs of gas at the school," Sgt. Cortez Stafford with the Atlanta Fire and Rescue Department said.

Parents told Fernandes they were pleased with the way the school handled everything. They are just hoping officials figure out what happened so they can prevent it from happening again.

Cox Media Group