School Lockdown After Mercury Exposure

By: Maureen Magee and Hailey Persinger

Published: October 8, 2010

San Diego — Toler and Bay Park elementary schools were taken off lock down status at around 4:30 p.m.

UPDATE 4 p.m. - Mission Bay High School has been taken off lock down status and all students were sent home at about 3:25 p.m., said the San Diego Fire Department. Lock downs for Bay Park and Toler elementary schools are still in effect.

UPDATE 2:40 p.m. - About 140 students have been isolated and are being screened for mercury contamination at Mission Bay High School after officials found that they'd entered classrooms with dangerous levels of the substance.

Toxic chemicals force Newark students to be bused to Harrison, costing >$300,000

Published: Thursday, April 29, 2010, 8:55 PM     Updated: Friday, April 30, 2010, 5:24 AM

Victoria St. Martin/The Star-Ledger 

NEWARK -- Every day, more than 800 children at the Wilson Avenue School in Newark arrive at their Ironbound building, then get on a bus to go two miles to another facility in Harrison where they attend classes.

At the end of the day, they do the reverse commute.

That ride, necessitated by flooding and the discovery of benzene at Wilson Avenue School, is costing the Newark School District about $1,600 a day, a spokeswoman said. By the end of the school year, the total tab will be $96,000.