UPDATE: Poplar Bluff Junior High School rescinded its evacuation order and resumed classes shortly after 10:30 a.m. Faculty and students had been evacuated to the football field after a gas smell was reported. Spire Gas and the school’s maintenance department collaborated to search for the source of the smell, but detected nothing. Classes resumed once the all-clear was given.
Dr. Scott Dill, superintendent, said administration does not know what caused the gas smell, “aside from a highly localized olfactory event.”
A potential gas odor was detected in Poplar Bluff Junior High, leading to an evacuation of all students and staff to the football field at 9 a.m.
“It was in a very isolated area is what I’ve been told, it wasn’t pervasive. It wasn’t schoolwide, anything of that nature,” said Poplar Bluff R-I’s superintendent, Dr. Scott Dill. “But out of an abundance of caution we respond the same way and so our people did what they do. They evacuated the kids and we got in the experts to help us try and track it down.”
The school’s maintenance department is cooperating with a Spire Gas crew to track down the source. At the time of this article, no cause had been determined.
Dill was grateful to Spire for their quick response to the situation, and complimented staff and students for handling the situation well.
PBJH plans to resume classes as soon as they are able.
“Until we get the all-clear, we’re gonna make sure that everyone stays out of the building. And then as soon as we can, we will resume as much of a normal day as we can have,” Dill said.