As far as officials were able to tell Thursday, there was no chlorine leak at Rocori High School. So they remained unsure why 38 students and a teacher became sick and, and several had to be hospitalized overnight as a precaution.
Five agencies and the company that services the pool examined the pool system and declared that it worked correctly.
"Everyone came up exactly the same _ zero chlorine," said Ken Kraemer, director of buildings and grounds.
Kraemer said the incident happened shortly after a valve in the pool was replaced Wednesday. He restarted the jets that stream water and chemicals into the pool while students were in the water, something he does not normally do. He said students might have overreacted to seeing the water jets start again.
"It is nothing we did wrong," he said. "Somebody got excited and everybody followed in a chain reaction."
Water samples Wednesday and Thursday found chlorine levels within acceptable levels.
Classes resumed Thursday and all 16 people who spent the night at St. Cloud Hospital was released. Those treated at the hospital had mild symptoms "consistent with chlorine exposure," such as coughing and burning nasal passages, Dr. Tom Schrup said.
"Chemically there is no reason we can determine, yet kids had very real symptoms," Superintendent Scott Staska said.
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