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North takes in Ethridge students after suspicious substance found
Photo Credit: Angie Luu
As parents were arriving at North Garland, senior Tommy Trinh hangs signs notifying parents to go to the front office. All of the doors were carefully watched, so students and teachers could direct Ethridge Elementary parents where to go to pick up their children.
Written by Amy Pham
Ethridge Elementary School was evacuated today around 9 a.m. due to the delivery of a mysterious white envelope containing a white, powdery substance.
The students were taken to NG auditorium to stay and wait for parent pick-up and to have lunch.
“They [the district] evacuated the building and called to see if they could come over here and sit in the auditorium until everything was cleared,” Principal Susie Fegraeus said. “They put out an all-call to their parents to tell them what had happened so that it wouldn’t cause unnecessary panic.”
Ethridge Elementary School was surrounded by the health department, forensics specialists and a hazardous materials team who acquired the substance for testing.
In the meantime, fifth graders across the state were TAKS testing, and the Ethridge administration was advised to stop in order to evacuate.
“I got a call this morning and the fifth graders were TAKS testing, so they called the TEA (Texas Education Agency) to get approval for the students to test on another day,” Dr. Fegraeus said.
School buses transported the students to NG where Dr. Fegraeus and theatre director, Mrs. Nancy Gibson had set up the auditorium. However the original plan was to take them to the Garland Special Events Center causing a mix-up in some of the students’ destination.
“They were going to take the students to the Special Events Center so they wouldn’t disrupt us, but then they decided that if parents were coming it would be more convenient to come to North,” Dr. Fegraeus said. “So some of the kids ended up at the Special Events Center because the bus drivers didn’t get the word that they had changed it again to come back to North.”
Parents began arriving by the dozens and were lined up in the foyer as GISD administration made sure to check students out as they were dismissed for the day.
“We lined the parents up by grade level, and one by one, they came and checked their students out,” Dr. Fegraeus said. “They had to show picture ID, and we have to go through the appropriate procedures.”
Director of Secondary Operations George Lyons and Director of Elementary Operations Dorthery West were both present in the midst of chaos to help make sure that the situation was being handled accordingly.
“I came out to help Dr. Fegraeus and the Ethridge staff,” Mr. Lyons said. “The main thing is to get it organized, get the tables set up and get a procedure going where parents can pick up their kids.”
Armstrong Elementary School was also evacuated for a similar mysterious letter, however the results came back to find that the substances were not toxic or harmful.
“Basically, Garland ISD took care of the students’ need,” Ms. West said. “We made sure they were safe and secure at all times, and that took a team of Garland ISD personnel to all come together and make decisions in the best interest of the kids.”
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April 6th, 2010 at 5:24 pm
Good story. If armstrong was evacuated and found “not lethal” or whatever, does that mean ethridge was lethal?? Talk to the police, get a report. You got a GREAT story here.
April 6th, 2010 at 10:10 pm
this was very informative! thank you Ms. Pham!