LeRoy, N.Y.— The LeRoy School District will hold a meeting Saturday, February 4
th from 9:00-10 a.m. in the high school auditorium. The school district says Leader Professional Services, an environmental group hired by the district, will make recommendations for further testing in addition to assessing previously performed tests.
This is the second public meeting in two months held by school officials to address an illness that caused tics and uncontrollable movements in twelve young people.
The State Health Department said Friday that there were six suspected cases that are also being investigated, in addition to the twelve confirmed cases.
Lack of answers
Residents in LeRoy have expressed frustration with a lack of information—no definitive cause has been made public by the school or health department.
“They feel like they are not getting the transparency they are looking for,” said Jennifer Keys, a resident and Village Trustee.
Parents told 13 WHAM News following the previous meeting, that they were given a diagnosis of Conversion Disorder. The disorder is a neurological ailment that can be brought on and worsened by stress. Residents were told in early January that the illness was not environmental or infectious, but that hasn’t ended belief that it may have been caused by chemicals released during a train derailment in the town in 1970.
“Environmental causes would not discriminate. We would see a wide range of people affected,” said Schools Superintendent Kim Cox in a February 1st letter to the community.
What Tests?
Don Miller’s daughter Katie Kratwurst is among the teens afflicted with the illness—he plans to attend Saturday’s meeting.
“I’d like to learn (more). They say they are going to do more testing. I’d like to know what they are going to do (vapor tests, wells).
Miller is hopeful a representative of famed environmentalist Erin Brockovich attends the meeting, but is unsure if they will. Brockovich began investigating the LeRoy case in January and had a member of her team take soil samples on school grounds before being asked to leave.
Miller is mulling whether to accept an invitation from the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.
