Ky. parents call for action after several students faint, vomit during outside event

CYNTHIANA, Ky. ( FOX 56 ) — The actions of Harrison County Schools on a hot day boiled over to a heated discussion in Cynthiana Monday evening.

After an outside celebration assembly for the new Harrison County High School, a special meeting was called to discuss concerns. The event, held inside the high school football stadium, left several students ill.

Many said the temperatures exceeded 90 degrees that day. Students were sunburnt, vomiting, passing out, and demanding water, after nearly three hours of sun exposure.

“I want to apologize, again to my earlier message, to all students, staff, and parents for any individual adverse effects they experience on this day,” said Superintendent Dr. Harry Burchett.

150 people showed up to the meeting with more than 20 taking the podium. The biggest concern was the lack of water available. Parents read texts they received from teachers, who said they had to split two bottles of water for an entire class. Some teachers reportedly gave ice cubes out of their own water bottles to keep kids cool.

Burchett denied these claims, saying water was available.

“Water was available onsite as needed as part of the safety and first aid station,” said Burchett.

Several parents called for the resignation of the Superintendent and school board members.

“In fact, we want you to be involved all the time, not just when you have something to complain about, these are your students, they’re your kids,” said Kristy Casey, a school board chair.

A few students took the stand, one 16-year-old junior, said she felt fine until she didn’t.

“The picture, the big HC, the big kicker at the end. I managed to get to that before losing consciousness and eventually, you know, having to be taken away,” she described.

Her dad, a doctor in the county, said the conditions were not good for anyone and called for a hot weather policy for future outdoor events.

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Parents said the worst part of it was having children traumatized by what they witnessed, with many parents expressing their kids did not want to go back to school, and coming home after the event falsely believing people had died.

“I hope that the school takes these matters as serious as all of these parents do and will take the appropriate actions to prevent a reoccurrence of these issues in the future,” said one parent.

The meeting was not open for discussion with the board. The board said it will take all comments under consideration as it works to ensure a situation like this does not happen again, and future meetings will allow for addressing the situation.

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