New finish on gym floor sickens some students at Levittown school

A new finish on wood flooring in the gymnasium generated fumes that sickened students and forced the evacuation of Island Trees Memorial Middle School in Levittown Thursday morning, fire officials said.

The school was evacuated at about 10:30 a.m., said Charlie Giudice, chief of the Levittown Fire Department, and rescue personnel responded to a call placed at 10:43 a.m.

Giudice said several students in the gym had complained of breathing difficulties.

"Two students who have a history of asthma or breathing problems were transported to the hospital, and about 10 others were treated at the scene," Giudice said.

Neither he nor Charles Murphy, superintendent of the district, had more information on the sick students. Murphy said he wasn't sure the new finish was the problem.

"We've been in the gym since it was finished in the summer and did the same work in every gym in the district," he said. "Why today?"

Levittown firefighters and a hazardous materials team from Nassau County investigated the fumes, Giudice said. Both teams concluded that the fumes from the floor's new finish were responsible, he said.

Students and faculty were sent to the high school, but were readmitted to the middle school at about 2 p.m., Murphy said.

Murphy said classes would resume Friday, but the company that refinished the floor with what he believed to be a polyurethane material would be called to look into the issue.